


Sans

by carrotcat17



Series: Seven Souls (And Sans) [1]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Pre-Undertale, Sans adding to his long list of poor life choices, Sans relearning some things he didn't know he knew, The Gaster man, for Science!!!!, pre-game
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-31
Updated: 2016-06-22
Packaged: 2018-05-30 06:23:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 40,606
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6412528
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/carrotcat17/pseuds/carrotcat17
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The part where Sans makes and breaks things and has a rough go of it. :3</p><p>Involves machines, mysterious friends, and a whole mess of troubles (most of which stem from his poor life choices and lack of patience).</p><p>150 HP, 35 ATK, 35 DEF, 12 SPEED</p><p>  <a href="http://carrot-cat17.deviantart.com/art/Sans-Chapter-1-600054620">View it on Deviantart here!</a><br/><a href="http://carrot-cat17.tumblr.com/tagged/sevensoulsandsans/chrono">View it on Tumblr here!</a></p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sans is on paid leave from the Royal Lab, to work on a personal project...a certain machine...he's certain that this project of his can get him the Royal Scientist position, if only he can get it to work!

Sans was stuck.

“ugh, this shouldn’t be so hard!”  he groaned, palming his eye sockets in frustration. It had been a long night.

He didn’t  _ dislike _ his work. Especially when he could get paid to take a month off for personal projects. Being a scientist for the biggest lab in the whole Underground was actually pretty freaking cool. Even if he was stuck under a freaking mountain. Resources were somewhat limited as a result, and Sans had accepted long ago that he would probably never get to see the stars for real. But it wasn’t all bad. It paid the bills. And he’d come up with some pretty cool stuff. There was a certain sort of pride that came with being a scientist, and having the skills to solve complex problems with the best solutions.

Today, though, he simply could not figure out what needed fixing.

“c’mon, ya stupid hunk-a-junk! i don’t have the  _ time _ for this,”  he mumbled, suppressing a small grin. Sometimes, he really cracked himself up. Sans turned from the hulking box in front of him and crossed his small lab to review his schematics yet again. He reached into his lab coat pocket for a pen, being sure to grab a ketchup packet with it. Sometimes, ya just needed a boost. He clicked the pen against the side of his skull and sat down at his stool.

“if you wanna help me get appointed as royal scientist, you gotta start cooperating with me, y’know.” He poured over his calculations. What was he missing? Or was it something extra?

Suddenly, just as he was about to make a correction, a single, dirty sock appeared on his counter.

Sans looked up at the sock. He looked back down at his blueprints. Back at the sock. His soul fluttered for a moment. and a huge grin began to plaster itself on his face.  _ He’d done it! _

Leaning back on his stool, Sans opened the ketchup packet. This definitely called for celebration. He chuckled softly as he downed the packet in one go.

“heh, and here i thought i was gonna have to  _ clock _ out tonight before i made any progress!”

Which reminded him: he should probably take note of the time.

He grabbed the pen again and quickly scribbled the time on a scratch piece of paper, making sure to emphasize it with several messy circles. Then he compared it with his notes. Frankly, it was a miracle the sock had shown up at all. This was the first time in weeks he’d been able to get it to do that. But it had still shown up about two minutes late. Precision was key. After all, time travel must take into account every single nanosecond if it’s going to be taken seriously.

Sans poured over his blueprints, the lights of his eye sockets dilating a little as he scanned his information. Where was the anomaly? Where was the problem?  _ There! _ He’d found it! And much to his relief, it was only a minor miscalculation. Easy fix. How had he not seen it before? He bounced back over to the machine in the corner of the lab and made the adjustment in the program. Looking back over to the sock on the counter all the way across the room, he paused, shrugged, then took off his shoe and removed the other sock. Being barefoot in a scientific lab was probably not the worst thing he could do, right? He opened the door of the box and threw the sock in. He set the timer and closed the door. It’d be just like waiting for toast to pop up if it worked perfectly this time.

Sans leaned against his machine, rolling up his too-big coat sleeves. He couldn’t suppress a yawn as he dug around for another ketchup packet. He glued his eye sockets to his watch, forcing himself to keep his lids open. He could wait just a little longer. 17 seconds left...13...10...5,4,3,2…

As if on cue, the lone sock on the counter was instantaneously joined by its partner. It was almost as if both had always been there.

Perfect.

He shuffled back over to the blueprints and made his adjustments. This was it, then. He’d run some more sock tests tomorrow, and then he’d try it himself. If all went well there, he’d take his invention to Asgore.

“you’re gonna make your mama real proud tomorrow if you keep it up,” he patted the machine.  “but for now, i think we’ll call it a day.”

Sans didn’t even bother to grab his socks off of the counter. He threw his lab coat on the floor, next to its designated hook on the wall, shrugged his favorite blue jacket on, flipped the lights, and closed the door behind him. He rummaged around in his shorts pocket for the key.

Once the lab was securely locked, Sans made his way still barefoot to the front of the house He brushed the snow already starting to dust his shoulders before opening the door and stepping inside.

“hey, paps! what’s cookin’ tonight, bro?”

“HELLO, BROTHER! YOU’RE BACK LATE. I’VE GOT SOMETHING SPECIAL COOKING TONIGHT. UNDYNE SHOWED ME AN EXTRA-SPECTACULAR RECIPE FOR SPAGHETTI TODAY!”

Ah, good ol’ Papyrus. Never one to disappoint. If nothing else, at least he was dependable. Maybe someday Sans would be able to add “makes edible spaghetti” to the list of great things about his brother, too. Sans grinned and began emotionally preparing himself for the coming battle he was going to have to face. Surely, he’d be the strongest monster of them all by the time Pap made food that actually  _ tasted _ good. His HP may even shoot all the way up to 40 by the end of tonight alone. He’d already conquered any number of...well... _ monstrous _ dishes before. What was one more? He could already smell it. It smelled...different...that much credit he could give it.

“oh, boy! can’t wait, bro! it smells...strong.”

“OF COURSE IT SMELLS ‘STRONG,’ SANS - IT’S UNDYNE’S RECIPE!”

“oh, yeah, right. i guess that would make sense,”  Sans shrugged.  “guess it’d be an im _ pasta _ if it wasn’t strong, coming from her!”

It gave Sans no greater joy than to watch his brother’s face screw up a little. Geez, it looked like the guy was having a miniature mental breakdown!

“SANS, MUST YOU MAKE MY LIFE A CONSTANT JOKE!?” Papyrus cried, shredding mozzarella straight into the pot. Were you normally supposed to do that when making spaghetti?

“what, bro? these puns startin’ to  _ grate _ on your nerves or something?” Papyrus promptly put the mozzarella down.

“HONESTLY!” was all Papyrus could manage, fighting a smile. He’d never in a million years admit it, but deep down, Sans knew Papyrus thought his puns were funny. If he didn’t, Sans would never dump as many on him.

“SO...DID YOU FINISH WHAT YOU WANTED TO FINISH DOWN THERE?” he asked as he shoveled a heaping pile of the “strong spaghetti” onto a plate. “YOU WERE IN THERE A VERY LONG TIME TODAY - VERY NEARLY 11 HOURS!”

“uh, yup. i figured it all out,” Sans replied, stifling another yawn. Who even  _ made _ dinner at 11:45 at night? Well, apparently Papyrus. It sure was nice of him to wait up for him, though. Not that Paps would have been sleeping anyway.

“OH, THAT’S GREAT NEWS!” Papyrus exclaimed, clapping his hands together before turning to pile up a second plate of pasta. “...WHAT EXACTLY WAS IT THAT YOU WERE TRYING TO DO IN THERE AGAIN?”

Sans laughed to himself.  “as i’ve mentioned before it’s a machine that’ll transport my socks through time and space. that way, they stay dirty for as long as i want and  _ you _ never have to see them!”

“OH, SANS, THAT’S DISGUSTING! LOOK, IF  _ YOU’RE _ NOT GOING TO WASH THOSE...MONSTROSITIES...AT LEAST LET ME BURN THEM.”

“now, bro, no need to get  _ fiery _ about it! they’re just socks - and they’re not even yours!” Oh, that one was good. He’d have to hold onto that one for sure.

“OH, PLEASE, THE ONLY  _ FIERY _ THING AROUND HERE IS THE SMELL OF YOUR CLOTHES.”

“that, and maybe this spaghetti. if ya don’t mind my sayin’.” Sans cut in, tentatively taking a forkful of noodles and guiding it to his mouth. It passed his teeth, and settled in the back of his throat. Whether the stuff actually went  _ down _ or not, he couldn’t really tell. All he knew was that he had made a huge mistake. His mouth burned icy-hot. How could a plate of spaghetti even  _ do _ that!? The taste was...indescribable.

“IS IT GOOD? OR...AT LEAST BETTER THAN THE LAST ONE?” Papyrus sat down at the other end of the small table and eagerly waited for Sans’ response.

“it’s, uh...well, it’s different, i’ll give it that,”  was all Sans could manage. He fought the urge to grimace as he pushed another bite into his mouth.

Papyrus grinned and tucked into his spaghetti with gusto. Sometimes, Sans wondered if his brother even had tastebuds. Like, maybe he just couldn’t taste anything. Rarely did the taste of his...creations...ever seem to bother the guy. After the first bite of this latest attempt, though, his grin fell.

“OH, DEAR. I’M SORRY, SANS. USUALLY, I CAN FORCE MYSELF THROUGH MY OWN CONCOCTIONS, BUT THIS ONE MAY BE TOO MUCH EVEN FOR THE GREAT PAPYRUS.”

Well, this was a new development. Seems the skeleton had tastebuds after all! Tastebuds that  _ worked _ , even.

“hey, don’t worry about it, bro. y’know i always like your spaghetti,” he tried to crack another smile, but he was pretty sure it came off as more of an expression of pain.

“OKAY, WELL, IF YOU’RE GOING TO SUBJECT YOURSELF TO IT, THEN IT IS MY SOLEMN DUTY TO POWER THROUGH AS WELL!” Papyrus’ glare hardened as he sized up the plate before him. He raised his fork high in the air. “SHING!” he cried, before driving the fork down into the pile of pasta. In the same fluid motion, he brought a much-too-large globule to his mouth and downed it without a moment’s hesitation. An involuntary shudder wracked his body, but the defiant spark in his eye sockets remained. Sans couldn’t help but laugh.

Despite the appalling things the food was already starting to do to his frame, Sans pressed on. They decided to make it a contest. Pap would take a bite. Sans would take a bigger bite. Pretty soon, they were shoving piles of “strong spaghetti” bigger than Papyrus’ hands into their mouths, coughing and choking and laughing the whole time.

“aw, man, pap, that was awful!” Sans laughed through his involuntary tears.  “how ‘bout i make dinner tomorrow night, huh?”

“WELL, I CAN’T ARGUE WITH THAT, BROTHER,” Papyrus responded, wiping his own eye sockets. He took a napkin and dabbed his chin. “YOU’VE, EH, GOT A LITTLE SAUCE ON YOUR...WELL, ON YOUR EVERYWHERE…”

Sans shrugged, making a weak attempt at wiping his face with his sleeve.

“it’s whatever, bro. i’ll clean up tomorrow.” Sans got up and dumped his plate on the counter beside the sink. He’d have at least made the effort to put it  _ in _ the sink, except Papyrus had recently reconstructed it to fit more things underneath. Sans didn’t want to come right out and  _ say _ he was short, but...well...it seemed that Paps had gotten all the tall genes in the family. Like... _ all _ of them. Figured. Younger brothers always got all the height.

“welp. i’m ready to call it a night. whaddya say, paps?”

“WELL, I DO SUPPOSE IT IS ABOUT THAT TIME, NOW. LET ME JUST CLEAN UP HERE, AND I’LL BE UP IN A MINUTE.”

Sans made a mock salute, and ambled out of the kitchen into the living room. They’d never had much. But Sans had scraped and saved every penny he could to get this place. It was spacious enough for the two of them, and Sans had never needed much for himself. Whatever funds from his projects that he could have put toward himself, he preferred to put into savings anyway. It would be nice if they could get a less saggy couch. But y’know. Sans resisted the urge to collapse on it and slowly climbed the stairs, listening to his brother clinking away at the dishes. What a day. He was looking forward to a good night’s sleep. If all went as planned, tomorrow would be a big day, and lately he’d admittedly been over-working himself. It had been a long time since he’d been so devoted to a project. Not since...what was it again? Memory was a little fuzzy. He must really be tired.

By the time he reached the stairs, his legs felt like lead. All he could think of was curling up and dozing off. But first…

Sans pushed through the door, covered in stop signs, caution tape and all manner of other warning paraphernalia, and entered the spacious bedroom. He smiled as he flipped the switch, and a lightbulb from overhead, shaded by a “fancy” plastic mixing bowl illuminated the room. From the neatly organized closet, to the giant human flag on the far wall, to the robot action figure collection Sans - erm...Santa - had given him, the whole room screamed “Papyrus.”

Sans crossed the fire-rimmed rug and grabbed a well-worn book from the bookshelf before coming to sit on the end of the race car bed. Papyrus soon joined him, catapulting himself into the bed and burrowing under the thick, soft covers.

“ready, pap?” Sans asked, opening the book.

“READY!” Papyrus answered, nestling deeper into the blankets.

Sans began to read. It was a good thing he had this one memorized; his vision was starting to swim a little, he was so tired.

By the time he’d gotten to the end of the book, Papyrus was fighting hard to stay awake, too. For how little sleep he seemed to need, he sure got sleepy fast when he wanted to! Sans himself usually couldn’t fall asleep unless it was late at night, in his bed, after a long day of hard work. Sans had a feeling it wouldn’t take too long tonight, though. Papyrus wasn’t the only one nodding off!

“well, bro,” he said, stifling another yawn.  “will that do, or do we need to  _ peek _ at another one tonight?” he winked.

A grimace. “NO, I DON’T THINK THAT’LL BE NECESSARY TONIGHT. THANKS, BROTHER.” A yawn. “GOODNIGHT, SANS. I LOVE YOU.”

It had been the same routine - heck, even the same  _ book _ \- for years. But Sans didn’t mind. It was worth it, if it made Papyrus happy. Especially when he got to hear that every night.

“love you, too, bro. sweet dreams.” Sans got up and quietly turned out the light and shut the door.

Sans shuffled down the hall to his own room. He opened the door and looked around his dark, sparsely decorated room. It was small. The carpet was stained and worn in places. A pile of socks adorned one corner, most of them dirty. He walked over to his dresser and reached up into the lamp, feeling for the flashlight he’d placed in the socket. Why bother with a bulb when batteries were easier to come by anyway?

He flipped the switch. Nothing happened.

“whoops,” he said to himself.  “guess i’m all out of  _ bright ideas _ for tonight.” That was the last of the batteries. Maybe he could look for some more at the dump or something tomorrow, after he’d tested his machine.

Sans didn’t even bother to take off his jacket. He flopped down on the sorry excuse for a mattress shoved into the corner of the floor, grabbing his crumpled sheets and snapping them out so he could get under them. He’d gotten to be quite the slob lately. Usually he at least made his mattress in the mornings, but more and more often, he’d wake up, grab some toast, and head straight down to the lab. He was looking forward to maybe gaining some semblance of organization back after so much time devoted to his work. Papyrus may be the perfectionist, but Sans was no slob. He’d gotten a little careless, sure, but that was because he was busy. He’d clean up tomorrow, after the tests.

The tests. The tests could determine the fate of the underground if they all went well tomorrow. If Sans could make this work, he had the potential to restore at least  _ some _ hope to all the monsters trapped down here. That’d be something, wouldn’t it? And then there was that tiny possibility that Asgore could make him the Royal Scientist. Like icing on a cinnamon bunny.

Sans smiled a little as he closed his eye sockets. True to his expectations, it didn’t take long to fall asleep.

~

Bright light everywhere. Then Darkness. Sans opened his eye sockets. It didn’t make a difference. He couldn’t even see his hand in front of his face. So dark. Where was he?

Just as panic was about to set in, a pinprick of light showed up in his peripheral vision. He turned to look, squinting. It was either very small or very far away; Sans couldn’t really tell. But either way, it was steadily growing larger. Or closer? Still hard to tell. The light began to gain definition. Well, sort of. Not really. But here, a dark spot appeared, there a line. It was frightening, but fascinating.

The thing stopped growing...or getting closer...this lack of sense of space was really messing with him. It shifted and moved, like the way Papyrus used to constantly wriggle whenever he sat in Sans’ lap as a kid. The dark spots began to take on an odd-but-comforting form. It almost looked like...like a -


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And here's where things get a little more interesting...

Sans awoke, hazy and confused, and not at all feeling well-rested. He glanced at his watch. He’d gotten a full night in. Weird. Musta been the dreams he’d had last night. He didn’t remember what they were about very well, but he remembered them being pretty trippy.

Well, nothing for it, he supposed. Time to get back to work. He pushed away the lingering haziness and rolled off of his mattress. Good thing he’d slept in his clothes, because getting dressed was the  _ last _ thing on his mind. Sans was in such a hurry to get back down to the lab that he nearly forgot to grab an armful of socks.

He closed the door to his bedroom behind him with one foot and bustled down the hall to the stairs. All was quiet. Papyrus must already be in Waterfall. He had only been training to be a sentry for about two months, now, but he had taken the utmost pride in his work. It sure was a good thing Undyne could handle his zeal in a productive manner. Sans wasn’t sure if he’d be able to.

The lab was just as he’d left it: lab coat on the floor; socks on the counter; notes everywhere, especially concentrated around the blueprints.

Sans ran a hand over them, thinking back to when he had first “discovered” the big, blue pages that had led him to this momentous day. Of course he used the term, “discovered,” liberally. They had literally just...kinda _shown_ _up_ in his lab one day, conveniently buried under a skele- _ton_ of other stuff in a drawer. They had been nearly impossible to decipher at first. The handwriting was...very different. Whoever had started this project certainly seemed to like symbols. But over time, Sans had been able to crack the code. Heck, it’d almost seemed familiar, once he got the hang of it. Heh - he really had to _hand_ it to himself, there. It hadn’t been easy. But looking at his invention now, waiting patiently in the corner for him to make history, it had definitely been worth it.

Donning his lab coat, Sans dumped the socks on the floor. There’d be time to clean up and maybe even do laundry later. Right now, there were more pressing matters to attend to.

He took one of the socks and coaxed the machine to life. Once everything was all warmed up, he tossed the sock inside, just like last night, and set the timer to five minutes from now. The place? Hmm...the counter seemed boring. He decided it would be far more fun to have it land somewhere else. Maybe...Papyrus’ mailbox!

He pressed the launch button and closed the door on the sock. Then he gathered his coat around him and made a mad dash to the front of the house. He shielded his face against the fat flakes of snow that were tumbling to the cavern floor. Sans reached the mailbox and waited, watching the fresh snow slowly start to fill in his footprints.

As he had hoped, he only had to wait for a few minutes before the sock showed up. He hopped up and down. It was working! It was really working! Oh, boy, the prank possibilities were endless! But he'd start with the mailbox.

His brother wasn't due for another six hours at least, but that wasn't a problem anymore. Sans grabbed the sock and returned to his lab.

Papyrus always checked his mailbox at 1 pm precisely, everyday. It was certainly a good thing Paps was so meticulous with his schedule.

Sans placed the sock back into the machine and set the timer to 1 pm. But he paused before hitting the launch button. He grabbed a sticky note and quickly scribbled, “it worked,” on it, then attached it to the sock. Satisfied, Sans pressed the launch button.

Now, in the meantime, how would he test things going  _ back _ in time? He thought for a moment. He couldn't just send it to the counter or something. That wouldn't be able to tell him the time frame. He needed something that could show him how much time had passed.

Sans thought back to the snow that was currently filling his tracks. That could work.

Setting another sock in the machine, Sans changed the timing to an hour ago. The coordinates he set to the spot right next to the door to the lab. He’d worry about precise timing if this one worked.

He was so eager to see if it would work, he was halfway to the door before he realized he hadn’t hit the launch button. “heh, if only I could be in two places at once,” he thought. Well, if this succeeded he guessed he'd probably get his wish.

No sooner had Sans  _ actually _ launched, then he was tripping over the hem of his lab coat to burst through the door.

His soul gave a little lurch when his eyes lit upon a lump in the otherwise smooth terrain. He dropped to his knees and dug into the lump to find a sock, soggy and very cold.

For a moment, all he could do was sit back in a heap in the snow, staring at this bedraggled little thing in his hands. Future was one thing. The past...now that was what he wanted -  _ needed _ \- to see work! This was going better than it had ever gone before! Sans let himself fall onto his back, ignoring the cold, wet snow seeping into his lab coat. He looked up at the cavern ceiling, some several hundred feet above. Most of it was obscured by thick clouds, but he could catch traces of it, and the occasional twinkling of a ceiling star. If this worked...the ramifications...perhaps Sans would even get to see the real stars. Suddenly, it didn’t seem so impossible anymore.

But he probably needed to test it some more. Thirty times ought to do it, right?

The morning passed with success after success. Each sock landed where it was supposed to be,  _ when _ it was supposed to be. Sans felt a glow of pride at how flawless his machine was working now. And to think, it had just been that one, little miscalculation that had been giving him the runaround!

Sans high fived the air, as he had habit to do, when the twenty-ninth sock successfully finished its voyage. As if on cue, the timer Sans had set for himself went off. Perfect! Sans grabbed his jacket and peeled out the door of his lab. He stopped short just before turning the corner, where he could stay out of sight, but maintain a good view of the mailboxes.

True to his schedule, Papyrus came loping up the road a moment later. He went straight for his mailbox, and opened the lid.

“get owned, bro!” Sans snickered under his breath as Papyrus looked inside his mailbox. His placid expression turned from surprise to confusion to dawning recognition. Then it looked like the skeleton was having a hard time deciding whether to be elated or infuriated. Overall, it kind of just looked like a skel-equivalent of an aneurism.

“SANS!!!”

Welp, that was his cue. Sans ducked back into his lab, holding back his laughter until he had the door firmly shut behind him. He had a feeling this wouldn’t be the last time he used that one on his brother.

After he’d finished wiping the tears from his sockets, Sans dug around in one of his pockets for another ketchup packet. It was time.

He sucked the packet dry as he poured over this notes one last time. Everything seemed to be in working order. All he needed to do now was to test it himself. As he moved over to the machine, he pushed down the nervous flutter in his soul. Yeah, lots of things could go wrong. But thirty was a pretty lucky number, right? And anyway, none of the socks had disappeared. They’d all done exactly as they should. Still, something was niggling at the back of his mind. Sans couldn’t help but wonder if he was forgetting something. Something inside him was raising an alarm as he stepped inside the machine.

But that was silly. Why on earth should he worry so much? All twenty-nine of his previous tests had gone just fine. This one would go just as well, if not better. Still, Sans decided to shorten the timespan a little, just for good measure.

He hit the launch button and closed the door. Suddenly, the space inside the machine felt a lot smaller than it was. Sans shifted on his feet, waiting for the familiar whirring. It came. Everything sounded like it was working. Sans let out a breath he hadn’t known he was holding. He leaned back against the wall of the box, and closed his sockets. This was going to work.

A high-pitched noise started up. Wait. That didn’t sound right. It was getting too high. Too fast. There was a heavy clunk, and suddenly the light in the box flickered out. Sans’ eyes flew open.

“oh, shi-”

The light came back on, but it was far too bright. Sans squeezed his sockets shut again, but even that didn’t help much.There was another loud clunk, and with it came a gradually growing sensation of numbness. He couldn’t feel his limbs anymore. Or his face.

Sans started panicking.

He made a mad dash in what he thought was the direction of the door. But before he could reach the other wall, pain that felt like a club studded with knives erupted at the back of his head, sending him reeling to the floor. The only thing he could feel now was an agonizing throb all throughout his skull. Sans crawled toward the door as best he could. He was vaguely aware that he probably wasn’t making much progress.

Suddenly, all the feeling came back to his body. Sans screamed.

The last thing he heard was a terrible  _ rrrrrip _ . Then everything went dark.

~

Sans felt like his body was being torn into millions of little pieces. Everything hurt. He couldn’t tell if his eyes were open or not. It didn’t seem to matter, though. Thousands upon thousands of images flashed across his vision, all accompanied by sounds, smells, sensations. And emotion. So much emotion!

It was a sensory overload. All he could do was put his skull in his arms - except he wasn’t sure if he was actually moving or not. There was so much  _ feeling _ that he couldn’t feel himself. Was he even here? Where was here?  _ When _ was here? What was happening?

Amidst the barrage of information, his conscious tried to find stable ground in whatever it could focus on long enough: an image of a door. The face of a friend. The face of his brother. The sound of footsteps. The smell of freshly fallen snow. The weight of a sleepless night. The feeling of joy. Freedom. Fear. Pain. So much pain. A blue, striped sweater. A little, yellow flower. Uncertainty. Naivety. Regret. So many sights and sounds and smells battling for his attention. Why couldn’t it just stop?

“leave me alone!” his mind cried out; he wasn’t sure if he was actually making a sound.  “help! somebody help!”

Still the images continued, picking up speed. Sans felt like he had been running for miles, and yet he couldn’t stop. Snow-covered pines. Glowing water and echo flowers. Shimmering heat and red rock. Golden light streaming through stained glass windows. A light even brighter than that. An endless onslaught of voices. There was so much! Pretty soon, Sans gave up trying to make sense of it all and let his conscious collapse. The only thing he felt aware of was a dull ache across where he imagined his chest should be. How funny. What a weird place to get a headache. Everything was a jumble. No coherent thought would surface. Was he dying? His senses were not his own anymore. His emotions were literally everything and nothing at once. He wasn’t even sure he was really there. So many images. So many thoughts and plans and memories and feelings and...Sans felt himself shut down in the face of it all. He just wanted it to go away. To leave him alone. To stop touching him. Shouting at him. Pushing him. He felt like he was being thrown every which way all at once.

Then, suddenly, everything ended.

~

Dark. So dark. Darkness so thick it felt tangible; suffocating, even. Gradually, Sans became aware of himself again. His body ached all over. Even the slightest of movements sent fire up and down his bones, right down to the marrow. His joints screamed in protest as he brought a hand to his skull. He had the strong urge to retch, but no energy to do it. Sans looked around him. Nothing to see. He felt no less confused.

“what the hell just happened?” he groaned. His voice sounded at once muted and echoey. At least there were no more images. No more sights and sounds and smells and crap like that to overload him. In fact there was...nothing. It felt blissfully empty here. Wherever  _ here _ was.

He had no idea how long he...existed...there. It might have been minutes. it might have been hours. It might have been eons. He couldn’t tell, and he didn’t care. He was just grateful to be left alone, allowed to drift in and out of consciousness as he pleased.

His peace was cut short when a sound reached him from somewhere to his right. Sans turned to see...more nothing. Go figure. But the sound grew steadily stronger, rushing past him and echoing back until Sans couldn’t tell which direction it was coming from anymore. Sans strained to catch what the sound was. It very nearly sounded like a voice. And yet, he couldn’t make out any words. It was garbled, more like a mix of hundreds of little sounds, and the closer it came, the more it seemed like it was coming from everywhere.

A form began to take shape where the noises had originated from. It was slow coming at first, but seemed to put itself together with more confidence the closer it came. There was a soft glow around it. The sound increased in...something. Was that... _ excitement? _

The thing came to a stop several feet away from Sans. It hovered, constantly changing shape, as if it couldn’t maintain one frame for too long. Black and white swirled together and slithered over each other as the blob writhed and bobbed. The sounds swelled again. This time it almost...it  _ almost _ sounded as though…

“ssssssSSSSSAAAAAANNSSsss?” it seemed to say. It was kind of hard to tell. The sound was made up of so many smaller noises, and none of them sounded much like any monster Sans had ever heard.

“uh, yeah? that’s me. should i, uh, know you?” Sans stuttered. This day was really beginning to rise through the ranks of the trippiest days he’d ever experienced.

The voice seemed to sigh, producing a chorus of anything and everything, ranging from a motor revving, to a kitten purring, to a rock crumbling, to white noise. Despite how very alien it sounded, Sans could detect sadness.

The thing in front of him grew a little larger, more elongated. the swirls of white took their places at the top of the mass, and...were those supposed to be  _ hands _ !? A long and drawn out, growling sound, equivalent to that of a groan, maybe, echoed all around him. It seemed like all the echoes were rushing toward the mass. The “head” seemed to split in several places. Two misshapen holes in the middle, both fighting hard to maintain some sort of shape. Geez, was this thing made of melted nice cream or something? It was so... _ goopy _ .

“...nNNOOOo…” the voice seemed to come from just behind the figure now, laced with pain. The...eyes? The eyes blinked slowly at him, and a crack appeared just under them. It curved up into something resembling a smile. “bB-b-b-b-ut I kKKKnO-OOWw y-y-y-y-y-OOouuu!” the voice heaved and hoed, skipping every so often, as if Sans were listening to a glitchy recording.

Yep. This was officially the trippiest day ever.

“okay...so...y’gotta name?”

“yYYYoU knEwww i-i-i-ItT ONcEe-e-e.”

“i - i did?” What in the name of Quantum Physics was going on right now?

“yYe-ee-essssss…” the figure came a little closer. “yyYooOoou R-r-r-r-rReaLlyyy d-dOn’t ReCOgni-i-iii-se meeeee…..d-Do YOu?” It looked away, the ambient noises dying down a little.

“hey, look man, not to be rude, but you’re kinda startin’ to weird me out. who-  _ what _ are you? where are we? and how the heck did i get here?”

The “hands” spread wide, extending so much they stretched the black mass to which they were attached. The head, too, stretched up, making the figure much taller than it had first seemed.

“I…” it gestured to itself, “aAm gG-g-g-g-aSSssterrrRRrr.” The crack widened, ends curling up again. It was the oddest smile Sans had ever seen, but it wasn’t menacing. “tThssssssss…” the hands gestured to the empty space around them, “iS TH- vVoi-i-id.”

“void? like, a vacuum? like...outer space?”

The voice responded with something that resembled large boulders grating together, periodically interrupted by a sharp pinging sound. It took Sans a moment to realize it was laughter.

“nNoooO,” Gaster finally said. “nN-n-n-n-OT QuiT-t-te.” He took a moment to make a sweeping gesture, head moving like liquid to take in all the nothingness. “mM-m-orE LIKe...tHe opp-p-p-osssssssSsiTE.”

Sans could only blink at this point. This guy sure wasn’t very helpful.

“sSSSSSAansssSs,” he continued. “tTHsssss issssS WHat-tt-t-tt-t bECommmmesSsS -f a w-w-w-ORLd whEN it’sssSSs d-d-d-dDesssstroy-yED. Gaster’s voice was accompanied this time by a deep, rushing sound, like wind. It spoke of loss and grief. And regret. “tTHssSs is WHat hA-a-appeNssssss w-when YO-oou hHAvvvvVVe t-t-t-tt--tt-oo mMuCH POweR. yYOu YOUrssss-se-se-se-lf sssSSaID ssSO o-o-o-o oOncccce.”

Seriously? Could this dude even  _ answer _ questions?

“okay. that’s cool, i guess. ‘cept i have no idea what you mean. you’re pretty good at this whole a _ void _ ing my questions, hunh?” If Gaster caught the pun, he didn’t show it. Tough crowd.

“yYOu an-an-an-aND I...we oOOncE ex-x-pLORed iT ALL t-to-to-To-gEther…” the droopy, goopy mess in front of him continued. “yYOu wERe sssssSUpp-p-p-posssSSSEd to rRemmeMBErrrrrR - bBb-bu-bu-tTt I PuSSssHeeed IT to-to-toTOo fAR. I d-d-dDessssSSSTRoyedd it All iN MYy-y-y C-c-cCuriOUSsssITy. yYOuuu tr-rt-tr-Tr-trieEEd to ssSTo-to-t-stoP mmMeee.”

...Okay,  _ what _ ?

Gaster’s frame suddenly drooped on one side. One of his eyes disappeared, and he all but lost his shape. Was he  _ dripping _ ? There was that pained groan from all around them again. He shimmied his way back into an acceptable form and...paused to...catch his breath?

“i-I’Mm ssss-ss-O-o-ooo-orRY. I C-c-cCAn’t-” he half-collapsed again. “cCAn’t m-m-m-mM-maINTa-ta-a-taINn…” A howling noise mixed with a low-pitched whine mixed with what sounded like thunder started up. If the dude wasn’t freaky before, he was certainly freaky now.

“what!? what’s happening to you!? gaster?” Freaky, or not, Sans wasn’t sure that he wanted to be left all alone in this void for the rest of time. No matter how peaceful it was.  “wait! don’t go! don’t leave me alone here! what do i do?”

“cCaN’t-ttt-t SSSsstTAY…” this time, the puddle could only make it halfway back to form before falling apart again. Sans tried not to panic. “...b-b-bB-BUt...CAn ssssSSSseND yYo-u bBa-a-a-acK...c-Ccannnn heEEELp-p...d-d-dDoN’T...FOrgEt MEee-e-e-ee...”

One of Gaster’s hands - or rather what was left of it - found its way to Sans and came to rest on his shoulder. It felt Electrifying. Then very cold. Cold like nothing would ever be able to warm it. The cold zapped Sans of what little strength he had left. One thought came to his mind through the sudden fog. Absolute Zero, maybe. The hand moved its way up to grasp the side of his face.

“pPPLeaSsssse ssssSSAnssSss…..d-d-d-dddON’t FOrGettt-tt.” parts of Gaster were flying off in all directions, disappearing faster than Sans could keep track of them. All of those sounds echoed from all directions now. It was almost as overwhelming as what he’d experienced before he got dumped in this place. “rREmeMmm-mm-mbeeEEer YYyOUursssSSSee-e-eee-e-elf-f-ff.”

Sans couldn’t even shiver. Couldn’t move. Couldn’t really think. Gaster had all but dispersed. The only thing left of him was the hand, still resting on his face. Maybe this was all just a bad dream, and he’d wake up in his bed.

The darkness was dispelled by one, great flash of intense light. It filled the whole space, effectively blinding Sans. He screwed his eye sockets shut.

“aw geez! a little warning next time!”

Suddenly, it felt like a vice was gripping his head. Like the entire, infinite expanse of this void was trying to cram itself into his skull. Sans did not appreciate this. But he didn’t have the chance to complain this time. He could feel his conscious slipping. Fast.

“rRRemmmeEmb-b-b-b-errrRr yYOoourrRrsssssse-e-es-se-lf.”

The hand, too, finally disappeared. Sans blacked out.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Something has gone alarmingly wrong, it would seem, and I don't think it's just Papyrus' spaghetti.

Sans came to with dirty carpet in his mouth. Delicious. As he gained his senses back, he could vaguely register the edge of a mattress under his left hand, and something hard curled into his right.

He tried to move. No good. There was no strength in his bones. He couldn’t even get his face off the carpet. All he could do was groan softly.  _ Everything _ hurt. Even just  _ thinking _ sent waves of achiness through his entire frame. He felt as though he’d been hit by one of Papyrus’ attacks - a thousand times over.

He wasn’t sure how long he laid there, on the floor of his bedroom, simply waiting. He let his mind wander. Any thought that required effort was just too much. Had it been a dream? Sans  _ was _ in his bedroom...but dreams didn’t make your body hurt all over. Did they?

When he finally felt up to it, Sans tried opening his eyes. Haha, nope. Still too soon. It must have been late afternoon. Even the weak sunlight filtering down into the Underground hurt his head. How long had he been out? It must not have been long, if it was still this light. Unless he’d slept through an entire day. He was still in his lab coat. So it couldn’t have been a dream. Did that mean that he’d just successfully travelled through space-time? If it did, Sans decided he never wanted to be that successful again. He risked a peek at his watch. It was half past four. When had he set himself to appear? 1:15? Yeah. So either he was coming back  _ way _ too late, or he’d just been unconscious for several hours. He really had no way of knowing. He’d have to get a spotter if he ever tried this again.

Heh, fat chance of doing that.

At long last, Sans felt like he could move without dying. He gingerly moved his head, cracking his eyes open just enough to take in his surroundings. The light trickling in from his window was significantly dimmer now. Geez, this was taking forever. At least nothing seemed out of place. That was honestly the most reassuring thing at this moment. After all, Sans could have woken up somewhere completely unfamiliar. As he could recall, though, he was supposed to have appeared in the kitchen. Not his bedroom. Why did he get dumped up here? That didn’t make sense. He winced as a sharp pain coursed through his skull. Ugh. Too much brainpower required for that one. He slowly moved one limb at a time, curling up into a ball on the floor next to his mattress. How pathetic? Though in his defense, something had clearly gone wrong during the test. Not that he could speak for the socks, but Sans was pretty sure time travel wasn’t supposed to feel like this.

Well, he supposed he had nowhere to be. He could lay here awhile.

After another long while thinking about nothing in particular, he remembered that he had something in his hand. He uncurled his fist. nestled in his palm was a small, glass marble, cloudy and streaked with white and black. Odd. He couldn’t remember ever coming across such an object. But as Sans looked at it, a memory stirred.

Gaster. That guy from...the void, was it? Yeah, it was coming back now. Now that he studied it more closely, he could almost imagine that face in the marble’s swirls.

Okay, so he had a marble with the guy’s face in it. Cool. What exactly was he supposed to  _ do _ with it? Gaster had told him to “remember yourself,” just before everything went kerplooey. What the heck was that supposed to mean? Actually, what did  _ any _ of the stuff he said mean? He hadn’t exactly been forthcoming with his information.

Sans would need to go over this some other time. Right now, it just made him dizzy, even though he was still laying on the floor, and he felt hungry enough to eat Papyrus’ worst batches of spaghetti. He felt like he hadn’t eaten in years!

Shakily, he got on his hands and knees. It still hurt, but at least he could move now. Night had fallen at least two hours ago. He tested his weight for a moment before crawling over to his dresser and using the corner to pull himself up. Sans hadn’t felt this drained since that time he’d contracted a particularly devastating strain of the monster flu. And even then. Sans wobbled across the room a few steps before deciding to follow the wall. How on earth would he get down the stairs? He leaned his weight into the wall as he made his way down the hall to the top of the steps.

Getting down the stairs turned out to be less of a problem than Sans had anticipated. It took no time at all to get to the bottom. Literally. One moment Sans was taking his first step down, and the next he was swaying across the living room to the kitchen. Had he blacked out again? How the heck was he still on his feet? Whatever. There were more important things to worry about right now - like at least three containers full of spaghetti that were calling his name at that moment.

Good thing Papyrus always had  _ lots _ of leftovers. Making dinner tonight didn’t really sound like a very good time at all. Sans grabbed three containers out of the fridge, and an extra one just for good measure. He balanced a ketchup bottle on top of the stack in his hands - it’d help the stuff go down easier - and made it halfway to the kitchen table before giving up. This was just too much work right now. He was already winded again! He shrugged and sat down cross-legged on the floor. This would probably stain his lab coat, but whatever. It was time to wash that thing again anyway. He squirted a healthy dose of ketchup into the first container and dug in.

Halfway through the third container, the front door opened. It was Papyrus.

“HELLO, BROTH- SANS! WHAT ARE YOU DOING ON THE FLOOR? AND EATING MY SPAGHETTI NO LESS!?”

“oh, hey, bro,” Sans replied, his voice coming out cracked and dry. Even speaking hurt. “how was your day?”

“MY DAY WAS GREAT, AS USUAL, BUT THAT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH WHY YOU’RE ON THE KITCHEN FLOOR IN YOUR LAB COAT. AND THOSE AREN’T EVEN THE BEST BATCHES, EITHER. ARE YOU OKAY, SANS?” Papyrus came forward and sat down on the floor in front of Sans. “YOU COULD HAVE AT LEAST SAT AT THE TABLE, YOU KNOW.”

“well, it’s been a...a long day, paps. i’d probably already be in bed if i weren’t so hungry. i’m feelin’ kinda zapped today. sorry, bro. i’ll have to make dinner another time.” He took another bite of the spaghetti. Now that the edge was taken off of his hunger, he was starting to notice that familiar taste underneath all the ketchup. Guess condiments could only cover up so much.

“OH, DON’T WORRY ABOUT THAT, SANS. WE CAN JUST HAVE LEFTOVERS TONIGHT. WELL - BY THAT I MEAN I’LL JOIN YOU, SINCE YOU ALREADY SEEM TO BE DOING THAT,” Papyrus said, reaching for the last container. Did anything ever faze this guy? “THOUGH AT THE RATE YOU’RE GOING, THERE WON’T BE MUCH OF ANYTHING  _ LEFT OVER _ FOR ME.” Hey, that was a good one. “ARE YOU SURE YOU’RE OKAY?”

“never felt better, pap!” Sans put on his best smile. He wasn’t sure if that urge to retch was coming from what he’d been through today or from all the spaghetti he’d just inhaled.  “why ya askin’?”

“BECAUSE YOU LOOK AWFUL.”

Oh.

“...well...that’s just because...because i’m  _ aw full _ of this spaghetti!”

Papyrus cringed. “MINE WAS MUCH BETTER, AND YOU KNOW IT.”

“now, now, no need to get  _ saucy _ with me!”

Sans started laughing. He was such a genius. Except that laugh proved to be too much. He fell over on his back. Whoops. Well, perhaps it wouldn’t be so bad, spending the night on the kitchen floor.

“OH DEAR…YOU REALLY ARE TIRED,” Papyrus put his container down and ran a hand down his long face. “COME ON. I THINK IT’S TIME WE WENT TO BED, BROTHER.” He grabbed Sans by the hand and pulled him back up into a sitting position. Sans swayed dangerously. His vision blurred a little. Whoa. Too many Papyruses in the same room.

“oh, boy...think i got up too fas’,” Sans said. He was vaguely aware that his words were slurring together quite a lot. Yep, it was time for sleep. Maybe he’d feel better after some rest. He waited until he felt steady enough to move again and tried to stand. It didn’t work very well.

“...WOULD YOU LIKE ME...TO CARRY YOU?” Papyrus offered, eyeing him warily.

Ew, no thanks. If word got out that Sans had had to be carried like a baby bones by his own little brother...he’d never be able to live it down!

“no, no i got it...jus’ gotta…” oh, darn. He was on the floor again. “ jus’ need some time, is all.”

Papyrus didn’t look convinced. In fact, he looked very much the opposite. All three of his swimming faces looked very stern - and very worried. Sans closed his eye sockets. Maybe he could feel less dizzy if he wasn’t trying to focus on anything. Yes. That was a little better.

“...SPEAKING OF TIME, I NOTICED YOUR EXPERIMENTS WORKED.”

“whatever could you mean by that, bro? how on earth could you possibly know if my experiments were going well or not?” He grinned, opening his eyes a little again.

“OH, I THINK YOU KNOW PERFECTLY WELL WHAT I MEAN! I GO TO MY MAILBOX TO GET  _ MAIL _ , NOT YOUR DIRTY LAUNDRY!”

Yeah, he’d definitely be pulling this one again.

“you can’t prove anything!”

“CAN’T PROVE ANYTH- SANS, I’D RECOGNIZE YOUR SLOPPY HANDWRITING ANYWHERE!” Sans tried to stand again. It was embarrassing how little control he seemed to have of his body today. Papyrus didn’t even ask this time, just huffed, scooped him up and started walking to the stairs. Ugh. How embarrassing. Good thing no one was around to see Sans being carried like a sack of potatoes.

“THE INCESSANT PUNNING IS ONE THING, BUT THE PRANKS? GOOD HEAVENS, SANS, YOU’LL BE THE DEATH OF THE GREAT PAPYRUS AT THIS RATE! AND IF THE GREAT PAPYRUS DIES AT SUCH A YOUTHFUL AGE, THEN WHAT WILL BECOME OF THE ROYAL GUARD? WHAT WILL BECOME OF THE ENTIRE UNDERGROUND!?”

They were at the top of the stairs, now. Papyrus walked right past his own bedroom and went straight for Sans’.

“geez, pap! this may be  _ socking _ to hear, but my pranks are done purely out of love and concern for you! don’t think of them as  _ pun _ ishment!”

“SANS!”

“hey, aren’t we gonna read-”

“NO, NOT TONIGHT.  _ YOU _ NEED TO BE NAPPING. I CAN READ TO MYSELF. I WANT YOU TO GET STRAIGHT INTO BED. I DON’T KNOW  _ WHAT _ IT WAS YOU WERE DOING ALL DAY IN THAT LAB OF YOURS - NYEH, BESIDES SENDING ME YOUR USED CLOTHING - BUT YOU LOOK LIKE YOU WENT ALL OVER THE UNDERGROUND TODAY!”

“you have no idea, paps…” Sans muttered under his breath.  “you have no idea.”

~

Despite how completely wasted he felt, Sans had trouble falling asleep. For one thing, everything still hurt. For another, Papyrus’ spaghetti was starting to... _ do things _ ...to his insides. But on top of all that was an endless stream of questions.

Why hadn’t the machine worked? What was it that had made the difference between him and the socks? He’d been so sure his calculations were correct…

A sudden thought occurred to him. Magic. Duh. Sans would have gladly started kicking himself if he’d had the energy. Socks didn’t have magic. But last time he’d checked, he did. He’d have to go over the notes again, but he’d be a moldsmal’s uncle if that weren’t the source of the error. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Then there was what happened after the experiment had blown up in his face to consider. That sensory overload, or whatever it had been. All those images and things...all those... _ experiences _ ...what had that been all about? It felt like Sans had lived through a thousand lifetimes. But how could that be? Surely it had just been a trauma-induced hallucination or something? Still...they’d all felt so real! Too real. Sans felt old and tired just thinking about it. So he decided not to.

The Void, then. And that Gaster guy. That was another mystery. What had he meant by “a world destroyed?” So a world destroyed becomes a void? Ha! That rhymed. Sans was so clever. Still completely lost, but clever.

And what about that minor detail that Gaster had seemed to  _ know _ Sans? Maybe better than himself. What had he meant when he’d said that Sans had tried to stop him? Stop him from doing what, exactly? Sans couldn’t remember trying to stop anyone - much less anyone by the name of Gaster - from destroying a world. Not that he knew of anyway.

Okay, his head was hurting again. Time for sleeping, not hypothesizing. He made an effort to shut off his mind and get some shut-eye. He could work through this in the morning, when he woke up and maybe didn’t feel so much like death.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sans finishes his nap. Finally.

Sans was in a dark corridor. The tiled floor was a grayish-green, the walls cracked and crumbling. There were unlit monitors studding the walls at even intervals. On average, one out of every five of the fluorescent lights on the ceiling overhead were working. Creepy.

But...familiar? Okay, even  _ more _ creepy. Sans was certain he’d never been to this place before, and yet his feet seemed to know where they were going just fine. He must be dreaming, then? But it felt so  _ real _ . Right down the musty smell hanging in the stagnant air. Well, dream or no, it still didn’t make the place any less unsettling.

While his footsteps echoed down the hall, Sans looked around. As he passed the monitors on the walls, they lit up. Some of them were legible. They looked like - they looked like journal entries of some kind. All had dates and times. Others were...less legible. Whatever language that was - wait...he’d seen that writing somewhere before!

Before he could process it all, he found himself in a larger room. Up against the wall to his right was a machine. It was massive, taking up a good portion of the room, and had coils and tubes and cords and all sorts of other things hooked up to and hanging off of it. Not unlike the rest of the place, it looked as if it hadn’t been used in years. It kind of looked like a skull. Maybe a deer? Or a goat-dragon-something-or-other?

The sound of shoes on tile behind him made him jump. Sans whipped around, trying to quiet his pounding soul. Someone was coming up the hallway he’d just been in. They passed under a working light. For a brief moment, Sans could make out the shape of a tall, lanky figure in a lab coat, carrying a briefcase. The figure entered the room and walked straight through Sans. Yeah,  _ that _ definitely just happened. Sans turned back around in time to see the person approach the machine.

“Alright, then. It’s time to do this. If all works according to my calculations it shouldn’t take much time. Then we can start putting the theories to the test!”

The person reached out and touched the panel next to the machine. The spot he touched changed, right before Sans’ eyes. Whoa. While the rest of the room was still dingy and dark, the panel and some of the machine had changed. It looked brighter - newer. As the machine booted up, the man placed a hand on the muzzle of the skull for a moment, changing the rest of the machine to match that first patch of “newness.” Odd.

Sans watched as he opened the briefcase and pulled out a small syringe. Inside was a dark, red liquid. The man pushed the syringe into the “mouth” of the machine. He looked around him for a minute or two, ducking into the doorways around the room, including the one Sans had come through. Every time he touched a door frame or something, more of the room would take on that “new” appearance, almost like it hadn’t been sitting here abandoned for who knows how long. Pretty soon the whole room was shiny and sterile. All the lights in the ceiling shone brightly.

The man in the lab coat, seemingly satisfied with his perimeter check, went back over to the panel and pressed a button. Sans made a move to get a closer look, but a sudden shout stopped him in his tracks.

“Stop!” it cried. Sans whipped around, every which way to see where it was coming from - and if it was directed at him. “Doc, stop! What the heck are you doing!?” Why’d that voice sound so familiar?

The lights almost went out of his eye sockets as Sans watched a stout figure in a too-big lab coat burst through the doorway across the room. And he’d thought the things he’d been experiencing lately  _ before _ were trippy.

“doc!” The newcomer huffed out between gasps for breath. “Are you thinking clearly!? the king and queen expressly said we weren’t allowed to test on their kid! this is unethical! How’d you even  _ manage _ -”

Sans couldn’t have moved if he’d tried, now. He watched as this “other Sans” ran up to the tall guy and grabbed his coat sleeve. The man looked down in alarm and anger.

“Sans, I had to do it. If we don’t start studying humans, we’ll never be any closer to finding a way through that barrier. I only extracted a little bit for scientific purposes. And I made it perfectly clear to the child. They consented, rather emphatically I might add. Said something about ‘being able to help the monsters take back what their kind didn’t deserve’ when I explained it to them. Don’t look at me like that - it was too big an opportunity to pass up! They almost  _ begged _ me to draw from them!”

“but dings, couldn’t we have waited at least until another human fell down? i mean...this is the king’s  _ kid _ for cryin’ out loud! you’re not thinking straight, g. what did you do, waltz right into their home and pull the kid aside during tea time!?” Other Sans looked like he was about to completely lose it.  “oh, man, we are so dead if anyone finds out about this! you’re the  _ royal scientist _ , gaster! you can’t just go poking at the royalty! at least think of your public image, man!”

Gaster!?  _ This _ was Gaster? He looked a lot more...erm... _ put together _ ...than the one Sans had met. Surely they couldn’t be the same person?

“I am,” Gaster replied measuredly. “Just imagine what possibilities even a fraction of this child’s power might hold for us! For all of monsterkind! Their contribution may very well be the key to breaking the barrier and freeing everyone. wouldn’t you want that, Sans? And how glorious it would be to have your own name attached to such significant discoveries! We could be legend!”

Sans was freaking out now. So was Sans.

As if things couldn’t get any freakier, Sans became aware of a sensation of being watched. He looked over his shoulder into the dark hallway. No one was there. He shuddered, turning to face the scene before him again.

Gaster and Other Sans both turned when the machine dinged behind them.

“Ah, see, Sans? It’s finished extracting the Determination from the sample.” Gaster retrieved the syringe and held it up. It shone, just as red as before. “Observe: no harm done. All is well.”

“doc, i don’t like this. someone’s bound to find out what you did. and you’ll get me in trouble. i don’t wanna lose my job over this, dings! what are you  _ thinking _ !?”

“I’m thinking I’ll go upstairs and collect a few more instruments, and then when I come back, you and I can begin our studies,” was the cool reply. “I’ve already just proven that Determination is indeed a substance, and that it can be isolated from the rest of a human’s soul.” He pulled a tiny vial out of the nose of the machine and dangled it in front of Other Sans.

“geez, doc! you sure are  _ determined _ to drive me up the wall this week, hunh?” Other Sans replied, running a hand down his face.  “first that incident with the chips on monday, and now this.” Still, the lights in his eye sockets dilated a little as he looked at the vial, and a little smile crossed his broad face for a moment. It was the weirdest thing Sans had ever seen in his life. Even as a scientist.  “better get moving, then. We got a lot to do and i don’t wanna get caught  _ red-handed _ ,” Other Sans gestured to the vials in Gaster’s hands before shrugging and heading back out the way he came.  “meetcha in lab 3?” He paused in the doorway.

“Twenty minutes,” was the reply, which was met with a salute before the short skeleton disappeared.

Gaster looked after him, a small smile on his face, before looking down at the substances in his hands.

“Today, we make history. Tomorrow, we make the future!” He returned the syringe to the briefcase and placed the vial in his breast pocket before bustling back through the doorway to the hall behind Sans, taking with him all that “newness,” and returning the room to its previous dingy, unused appearance.

As the doctor disappeared around the corner, Sans thought he could see a shadow standing at the other end of the long hallway, looking at him. Was it getting closer? Oh,  _ hell _ no. Not today. Time to wake up. Sans willed himself to wake up. He  _ was _ asleep, right? He remembered going to bed. He just had to wake up. The shadow was getting closer; it seemed to glide up the hallway. Sans felt like he could pass out from sheer terror.

“c’mon, sans, wake up!” he growled to himself.  “wake  _ up _ !”

The shadow kept coming. This was it, then. This was how he was going to die. What a lousy day.

~

Sans woke with a shout. He shot up on his mattress, flinging the sheets clear across the room. He immediately regretted it. It was freezing in here! And now his whole body was screaming at him again!

He collapsed back on the bed, trying to calm his shaking breaths. His pillow was all the way across the room, by his dresser. He shivered, both from cold and from the dream itself. It had been so vivid! But it had only been a dream. Nothing to worry about, right? He must have had a few too many bites of Papyrus’ spaghetti, is all. It wouldn’t be surprising. Especially coupled with all the experiences of the day before.

He was pulled from his thoughts by the sound of heavy footsteps thudding up the stairs. Oh boy. Here we go. Sans pulled himself back up into a sitting position, resting his head against the wall. A moment later, Papyrus burst through the door, eye sockets wide and worried.

“SANS! YOU’RE AWAKE! OH, FINALLY! I WAS BEGINNING TO WONDER IF YOU WERE EVER GOING TO FINISH YOUR NAP!”

Sans groaned.  “pap, could ya tone it down maybe? my head hurts a skele-ton today.” He couldn’t suppress another shudder. If Papyrus had noticed the pun he didn’t show it. Instead, he scooped up the sheets now sitting in the corner and rushed over to the bed, draping them over Sans.

“SORRY, SANS. IT’S JUST THAT...WELL, IT’S JUST THAT YOU’VE BEEN NAPPING FOR A VERY LONG TIME, AND I WAS GETTING VERY WORRIED. ARE YOU COLD?”

“yeah, i’m chilled to the  _ bone _ ! -whaddya mean, bro? you know i sleep more than you.” his shivering eased just a little now that he was under his sheets again.

“WHAT DO I MEAN!? WHAT DO I MEAN!? OF ALL THE SILLY QUESTIONS TO ASK!”

“paps! a little quieter, please!”

“-SORRY.” He stopped for a moment, closing his eyes. “SANS, YOU’VE BEEN ASLEEP FOR THE PAST THREE DAYS. JUST HOW MUCH OF MY SPAGHETTI DID YOU EAT?”

Whoa. Three days? Seriously?

“...three...days…” he brought a hand to his face, and rubbed a socket.  “well, i guess that explains why i feel like i could eat grillby’s entire stock of fries right now.” He attempted a small laugh. It didn’t exactly do wonders for his pounding skull.

“SANS, YOU ARE CLEARLY NOT WELL. I THINK WE SHOULD GO SEE A DOCTOR-”

Ugh, the Doctor.  _ No _ thank you.

“no, no, pap, i’m fine i swear. it was probably just your spaghetti.” ... and all the other crazy stuff that happened before the spaghetti...  “-i mean,  _ i _ can’t get enough of it - but i guess my body can; but hey, it’s not like i  _ pasta _ way!”

Papyrus stifled the snort that tried to come out from between his teeth. “THIS IS SERIOUS, SANS! YOU’VE NEVER SLEPT THAT LONG IN ONE GO BEFORE. AND YOU WOKE UP  _ SHOUTING _ THIS TIME.”

“oh, c’mon, bro! you know i hate the doctor! i just need another day or two and i’ll be back to normal. and i just had a bad dream is all. nothing to worry about there.” Well…”nothing” was maybe being generous, but...

“...WELL...ALRIGHT. WE’LL GIVE IT A DAY. BUT IF YOU’RE NOT FEELING ABSOLUTELY ONE HUNDRED AND NINE PERCENT BETTER BY THE END OF TOMORROW, I’M HAULING YOU THERE MYSELF.”

Papyrus had that “and-no-ifs-ands-or-buts” look on his face. No room for compromise there.

“alright, bro. it’s a deal.” Pulling the sheets up closer to his chin, he sighed and cast a glance out the window. Looked like it was snowing again.  “‘s the heater broken again or something?”

“NO, IT’S WORKING FINE. BUT IT’S AGREED, THEN? GOOD. AND IN THE MEANTIME, I THINK IT’S TIME FOR YOU TO EAT SOMETHING. YOU’RE LOOKING KIND OF... _ BONEY _ TODAY. WHY, I’LL WAGER THAT’S WHY YOU’RE SO COLD RIGHT NOW!”

Sans chuckled.  “yeah, i could definitely eat. also feel like i could sleep for several more days,” Sans replied, yawning. Apparently three days was an insufficient “nap.”  “food first, though. only maybe no spaghetti this time,” he winked.

“NEVER FEAR, BROTHER! THE GREAT PAPYRUS WILL FULFILL ALL YOUR NUTRITIONAL NEEDS TODAY! I’LL GET A HOLD OF UNDYNE AND TELL HER I’M CALLING IN SICK.”

“pap, nothing’s wrong with you.”

“CALLING IN THAT  _ YOU’RE _ SICK, SILLY!”

“that’s, uh, not quite how that works, bro. but seriously, it’s fine. you ought to go to work today. i’ll probably just spend the rest of today trying to sleep this off anyway. you don’t have to look after me.”

“WELL…” Papyrus looked conflicted. “ERGH, HOW DARE YOU DO THIS TO ME?! MAKING ME CHOOSE BETWEEN MY FAVORITE JOB IN THE WHOLE WORLD AND MY FAVORITE BROTHER!”

“bro, i’m flattered, but you really don’t have to choose. i’ll be fine. go to your training. i can take care of myself. who’s the older brother, anyway?” Sans had a feeling he’d be more convincing if his teeth hadn’t started chattering halfway through the second word.

“...OKAY - BUT I’M GETTING YOU SOME FOOD AND AN EXTRA BLANKET BEFORE I LEAVE. WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE?”

Sans grinned.

“i wasn’t kiddin’ around ‘bout those fries.”

“THE GREAT PAPYRUS IS ON IT!” Papyrus sprung up and dashed out of the room, looking ready to take on an entire army. Someday, he’d make an excellent member of the Royal Guard - if he could actually muster any intent to hurt something. He was definitely strong enough - in fact, by the time he’d fully matured, his power had almost caught up to Sans’. Sans himself had once considered joining the Guard, but science had called his name before he had the chance to go down that path. For Paps, though, it was different. It was all he would ever talk about when they were younger. That skeleton’s enthusiasm knew no bounds. Sans flopped back down on his mattress, massaging the bridge of his nasal cavity as he heard the front door shut. All was quiet.

Ah, turd - Paps had forgotten that extra blanket.

Sans groaned and rolled to his feet. Once he was sure they would support the rest of him he creaked to a standing position and ambled out of his room down the hall to the linen closet. He grabbed the softest, thickest blanket he could get to without having to rummage too much and started walking back.

“see, pap, i can take care of myself. ‘m not even sick. jus’ tired. and freezing. and achey. and a little traumatized” he mumbled to himself as he swung the blanket over his shoulders.  “not to make a  _ blanket _ statement about doctors or anything, but...well, i think they’re awful, and i’d really rather not have to go.” He reached his bedroom doorway and tripped on the corner of the blanket. Whoops. Down he went, tangled up in the blanket. Oh well. Couldn’t win ‘em all.

Sans fell asleep.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wow, Sans sure is good at sleeping! -insert dummy face here-
> 
>  
> 
> Posting this a day early because today is my 21st birthday and I think we should all celebrate by reading this chapter and telling me how great ~~I am~~ it is.

“Well, my friend, it doesn’t exactly look  _ great _ ...”

“JUST HOW NOT GREAT DOES IT LOOK, DOCTOR?”

“I mean, you’ll live…” Dr. Aras continued, throwing a pointed look at Papyrus. “I don’t know  _ what _ you did to yourself, Sans, but you managed to put your body under a great deal of stress in a very short amount of time. You’re lucky you can still do your magic.” He adjusted his spectacles oh-so-carefully with his claws.

“yeah, well, y’know…” Sans was about to let a particularly horrid pun rip, but something in the bear’s look stopped him short.

“Papyrus, would you mind waiting out in the lobby for your brother? I just need to check a few more things and then you two can go home.

“NO WORRIES!” he responded cheerfully, jumping up to leave the little examination room. Just as he reached the doorway, he paused, a hand already curled around the door frame. He turned around hesitantly. “...DOCTOR?”

A pause.

“Yes, Papyrus?”

“AS I AM SURE YOU ARE WELL AWARE, SANS DOESN’T USUALLY PICK A PRIZE WHEN HE’S DONE WITH HIS CHECK UPS…”

The doctor closed his eyes for a moment. He let out a heavy sigh and opened them again.

“Go ahead, Papyrus.”

“WOWIE! THANK YOU, DOCTOR ARAS!” and with that, Papyrus fled the room to dig through the children’s prize box. Sans watched him leave, swinging his legs back and forth on the examination table. He smiled.

“thanks, doc - for humoring him, i mean.” Sans chuckled as he shifted on the table to return his attention to the doctor. The face that greeted him made his smile droop a little.

“Sans, it  _ really _ doesn’t look good,” the doctor said.

“whaddya mean, doc? you just got done saying i’ll live-”

“-I was being generous. Frankly, it’s a miracle you’re alive at all.”

“oh.”

Doctor Aras lumbered over to the counter and picked up the clipboard he had recorded his notes on.

“By all accounts, you shouldn’t have survived whatever it was that happened to you. Sans, you’re incredibly lucky - but you’ve also done some irreparable damage to yourself.”

“can ya just give it to me straight? what’s the dealio?”

“Are you certain you can’t tell me what happened first?” He met Sans’ gaze with steady, concerned eyes.

Sans sighed, looking away.  “i told you already, i was out for a walk and i wasn’t watching where i was going. fell off a ledge. You know how the cliffs are around here.”

“Sans, you and I both know you can do better than that. You can’t be bothered to at least  _ try _ to come up with something believable this time?” the doctor pulled his spectacles down to give him a reproving glare. “Please tell me what really happened.”

Sans’ smile disappeared completely. Well, it had been worth a shot, right?  “look, doc, i’d tell you if i could, but  _ i _ don’t even know what happened. i, uh...woke up...like this…?” he shrugged. Grasping at straws today.

“You already told me you  _ woke up like this _ ; I need you to tell me what happened  _ before you went to sleep _ .”

“alright. i was running some scientific tests and something went wrong. but that’s really all i know for sure; honest! that’s the last thing i remember before waking up. so what’s this “irreparable damage” you mentioned a moment ago? something to be concerned about?”

The doctor sat down in the chair by the counter. He rubbed the back of his neck with one great paw as he took a deep breath.

“Your power levels have been almost completely destroyed.”

...What?

“Did you hear me, Sans?”

“yeah. i heard. but did i hear  _ right? _ ”  Sans couldn’t quite keep the wobbliness out of his voice.  “you meant to say  _ depleted _ ...right? i mean last time i checked, doc, monsters didn’t  _ lose _ their power.”

“It doesn’t happen often, no, but it evidently does happen. Until now, I’d only heard rumors about it myself. Just gossip shared by other doctors from around the Underground.  _ I _ didn’t even believe it was possible until you came in. I thought it was just a myth. But all the tests we ran indicate that you’ve lost it. And a lot of it.” Doctor Aras glanced back down at his clipboard in his claws. “...Would you like to see the results?”

No, not really, but thanks for the offer.

After a moment, Sans nodded, numbly. The Doctor rose to his feet and crossed the tiny room to the examination table. He held out the clipboard, expression unreadable. Sans took it and began to look at the notes.

At the top was the typical check up information. Name, age, height, weight, types of magic, all captioning the goofy picture Sans had taken at his last yearly check up. They all read the same as they had for years now. Sans suddenly couldn’t focus his vision when he reached the stats section of the page.

“...7 HP...5 AT...8 DF! you positive this isn’t just a typo, doc?” Sans croaked.  “‘m pretty sure these all used to say 35.”

“No, Sans. For starters, these numbers are hand-written.” Doctor Aras replied, glaring at the ceiling in exasperation. “For another thing I checked the test results over and over again to be certain I was getting the right readings. You almost killed yourself, Sans. Whatever it was that went wrong with that ‘test’ of yours very nearly dusted you.”

“so...is there any way to get it back?” he wasn’t sure he wanted to hear the answer, but…

“None that anyone knows of. You could try building it back up, but it may prove ineffective, since you’re already matured. Yours is such a rare case, most doctors don’t even realize it’s a real thing. With your stats this low, now, you’re going to have to be extra careful. Physically, you may be okay - though not enough research has been done to confirm that. Magically, however, you’re posing a threat to your own self. You can’t push yourself, or they might drop lower. You’re going to be alright in the long run - you may find that you tire more easily than before - but if you’re not cautious, you could get yourself into serious trouble. I’m sorry, Sans. There’s nothing we can do about it. You’ll simply have to adjust accordingly.” He paused. “But hey, look on the bright side. At least you still  _ have _ your magic. It probably isn’t as strong as it was, but you can still use it.”

Doctor Aras collected his things and made to leave. Sans hopped down from the table and followed him out into the hallway, slipping his arms through his jacket as they walked.

“so what advice do you have for me? what if i get attacked? i could get killed!”

The bear stopped just before they reached the lobby. Sans almost bumped into him.

“My best advice for you,” he said, “is to not fight.” He laid a paw on Sans’ shoulder. “But if you  _ do  _ find yourself in a situation where you have to defend yourself...get creative. And hone your reflexes. I’m sorry, Sans.”

Sans was left standing in the hall, fighting a panic attack, staring after the doctor as he walked away. This week couldn’t get any worse, could it? What was he going to do, now? He was practically an invalid! What if he tripped and fell down the stairs? He could be nothing but a cloud of dust before he even hit the bottom! Heck, for all he knew, Papyrus could  _ slap him on the back _ and he might not survive!

“THERE YOU ARE, BROTHER! ALL FINISHED?” Papyrus broke into his thoughts, a MTT Brand scratch ‘n’ sniff sticker strategically placed in the spot just under his nasal cavity. Sans grinned in spite of himself.

“yeah, we’re all finished. what scent ‘d’ya get?”

“STRUMBERRY STARFAIT.”

“sweet.”

Sans made for the door and Papyrus followed him, calling a thank you to the receptionist at the desk before walking out into the cold, damp air.

“SO WHAT TESTS DID YOU HAVE TO DO WHILE I WAS WAITING? WERE THEY SUPER SECRET?”

Sans felt like he was trying to swallow around a rock stuck in his throat.

“...actually, bro...i gotta tell you something…”

Immediately, Papyrus’ face became serious, he stopped in front of Sans and bent down so that they were eye level.

“YOU REALLY  _ DID _ HAVE TOO MUCH OF MY SPAGHETTI, DIDN’T YOU!? OH, SANS, PLEASE TELL ME YOU’RE NOT GOING TO DIE! I’D NEVER BE ABLE TO FORGIVE MYSELF IF YOU DIED BECAUSE OF MY COOKING! I MAY NOT BE THE BEST CHEF YET BUT SURELY MY SKILLS ARE NOT SO LACKING!”

Sans chuckled.  “heh, no, paps. it’s not like that. in fact, i’m pretty sure it’s not even your spaghetti after all.”

“REALLY!? OH, BOY, WHAT A RELIEF! STILL, I’LL HAVE TO ASK UNDYNE IF SHE’S GOT A BETTER RECIPE. OR MAYBE I SHOULD BRANCH OUT A LITTLE...BOW TIES, MAYBE...OR PENNE…”

Papyrus stretched back up to his full height, thoughtfully stroking his jaw. Sans almost took advantage of his brother’s change of topic to avoid having to tell him the news, but he knew it would have to come out sooner or later. And better sooner than later. The last thing Papyrus needed was to find out his brother was suddenly a walking china doll in the middle of one of their sparring matches or something.

“bro, we’re gonna have to be a bit more careful from now on.”

“AND WHY IS THAT?” Papyrus looked down at Sans, a picture of worry.

“well, y’see...it seems...uh...hey, remember how the other day, i was experimenting with those socks?”

“...YYYYES?” Sans could almost hear the cogs trying to grind together in Papyrus’ head.

“...well...it’s possible that i may’ve...tested that thing on myself, too, and...and it didn’t go so well, i guess. something went wrong and now i’m, uh, substantially more fragile.”

“WHAT!? YOU TESTED ON YOURSELF!? WITHOUT SUPERVISION!? OF ALL THE FOOLHARDY THINGS TO- OH, WHAT AM I GOING TO DO WITH YOU, SANS!? DO YOU NEVER THINK ABOUT SAFETY, FIRST!?”

“well, i’m making the commitment to start keeping it in mind more often, now, if that makes you feel better,” Sans shrugged, attempting a smile.

“SO WHAT DID YOU MEAN BY BEING ‘FRAGILE’ NOW?”

“paps, i only have 7 HP now. and far as dr. aras knew, there’s no way to get it back up. it’s gone forever.”

They walked in silence for a bit. Sans could sense Papyrus was going through all of the ramifications this piece of news brought.

“WOW, SANS. I DIDN’T KNOW THAT WAS POSSIBLE. DOES IT HURT? ARE YOU ALRIGHT? WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME SOONER?”

“well, for one thing, bro, i only just found out myself five minutes ago. i didn’t know it was possible either, but the doc said the numbers weren’t lying.” he dug his hands into his pockets as he continued walking, shoes crunching in yesterday’s snow.  “and nah, it doesn’t hurt. mostly, i just feel drained, i guess? i dunno. my energy hasn’t come back yet, anyway. but we’re gonna have to be more careful now. doc said if i pushed myself too hard magically it could go even lower.”

“I SEE…” Papyrus got quiet. Sans looked up to see him staring at the ground as they walked across town. “YES, WE WILL INDEED HAVE TO BE MORE CAREFUL. AND WE’LL HAVE TO PRACTICE OUR BATTLE TECHNIQUES DIFFERENTLY- DOES THIS MEAN I CAN NO LONGER THROW THINGS AT YOU WHEN YOU MAKE HORRIBLE PUNS?”

Sans laughed.  “i dunno, bro. maybe if you just throw soft things - unless i get real good at dodging stuff. but you’re probably fine. it’s battling that’s got me worried-”

“-BUT THAT’S PERFECT! YOU CAN LEARN HOW TO DODGE!” Papyrus’ eye sockets lit up. “I CAN HELP YOU WITH THAT, BROTHER! UNDER MY TUTELAGE, YOU’LL BECOME THE BEST WORST BATTLE OPPONENT THERE EVER WAS! YOU’LL PRACTICALLY BE UNSTOPPABLE!”

“heh. more like un _ touch _ able.”

Papyrus stopped in his tracks, mouth opening to protest. “-TOUCHEE.” was all he could manage after a moment’s thought.

“hey, good comeback, bro.”

It warmed Sans’ soul to watch his brother desperately try to figure out where he’d accidentally punned.

Dodging. Yeah, that would probably be his best bet. Besides just not fighting, anyway. He’d have to work on that when he got his energy back. Maybe this’d be manageable after all. Still, he kinda wished he’d never gotten into that blasted machine. It was just another thing to add to the long list of poor life choices he’d been making since he started that pet-project. Well. It was too late to change things. He marvelled at the irony of it all: causing himself irreversible problems from using a freaking time machine.

Which reminded him. He hadn’t been down to the lab since he stepped inside that thing. Guess it was probably time to check it out. And maybe try and figure out just what happened.

~

The thing was busted.

Sans was beginning to understand what the doctor had meant when he’d said Sans shouldn’t have survived. How on earth did he manage? He wracked his brain. Maybe he owed it to that Gaster guy. He had said something about “sending him back.” Sans shuddered to think that he could possibly still be stuck in that void if it weren’t for that goopy mess of a...scientist?  _ Royal scientist _ ?

According to his nightmare, he had been the Royal Scientist. But that didn’t make sense. The Royal Scientist position was currently vacant. It had been for, like, ever. Asgore had been trying to find someone who would be fit for the job for years now. Heck, that position had been Sans’ dream job for who knows how long now. It had been the  _ reason _ Sans took a month off of work to finish this machine.

He laughed bitterly. The thing that was supposed to get him that position was a now heap of scrap metal that had recently tried to kill him. So much for  _ that _ life goal. Well, maybe he could fix it. Assessing the damage even from several paces away was making his head swim. But perhaps it only  _ looked _ that bad. Maybe it wasn’t entirely totalled. Only one way to find out, he supposed.

He opened a drawer at his counter and heaved out a big toolbox. He dumped his jacket on the floor and threw on a pair of goggles and a headlight, grabbing the old skateboard from the corner and rolling himself underneath the machine.

“alright, ya hunk o’ junk. you better behave yourself. my entire career was ridin’ on you, y’know.”

He inspected the undercarriage with narrowed eye sockets. Where to start? Just about everything looked damaged. Well, he guessed it probably didn’t matter that much. Sans trained his eyes on a particularly loose nut and felt in the toolbox for the right tool. He reached up and took hold of it.

Suddenly, he wasn’t in his lab anymore.

It was dim, and grimy. Gray. Just like his dream.

“nope,” Sans said as he took his hand off the machine. The grayness disappeared. He was back in his lab, under his machine again.  “nope, nope, nope. sorry, buddy, but i’m not really in the mood for anymore creepy spacetime shenanigans right now.” He had to take a moment to calm his racing soul. Had that really just happened? Hadn’t he been through enough yet?

Still...creepy or not, it had been...intriguing. Sans’ scientific curiosity finally got the better of him and - against his better judgment - he reached a cautious hand up to touch the machine again. Nothing happened.

Bummer.

Eh, it was probably just his imagination. He certainly had enough material to work with. A little paranoia was no big deal, right? In fact, he actually felt a little relieved.

He shrugged and got to work.

About forty five minutes had passed when Sans finally rolled himself out from under the machine. He’d gotten quite a bit on the undercarriage at least started. That deserved one of his habitual air-high fives and a ketchup packet. But perhaps that was enough for today. Sans already felt like he’d climbed the walls of the Underground. All the the way to the ceiling. He left everything there on the floor - he’d be back tomorrow - and grabbed his jacket before heading outside. Night was starting to fall. Sans had some cleaning up to do. But that didn’t sound very fun at the moment. Maybe relaxing in front of the TV for a little while would help. Then he could at least tidy up his room and go to bed.

Sans grabbed his mail before heading inside. All bills today. It must be that time of the month again. What day was it? Thursday? Sans silently praised the institution of paid leave. Paycheck would be in the mail tomorrow. He could settle the bills later, then.

“bro, is it okay if we skip the bedtime story again tonight?” Sans asked as he flopped on the couch. Papyrus came out of the kitchen, wooden spoon in hand.  “i‘m just feelin’ kinda wiped.” He looked for the remote and flipped the TV on. Today’s program featured reruns of Mettaton’s soap opera series. Featuring romance with a  _ real _ bar of soap! Joy.

“UH, SURE, SANS,” Papyrus replied, ducking back into the kitchen. “WOWIE, YOU MUST BE  _ REALLY _ ‘WIPED’ IF YOU’RE WATCHING TV! I THOUGHT YOU HATED IT!”

Sans shrugged, not even looking up.  “never said i  _ hated _ it, pap. i just...don’t watch it often.” He was already feeling pretty drowsy. But he reminded himself with a groan that he still needed to do some cleaning.

“ARE YOU SURE? BECAUSE I EXPLICITLY REMEMBER YOU TOLD ME ONCE YOU ESPECIALLY DESPISED RERUNS. WE’VE SEEN THIS SHOW A MILLION TIMES ALREADY!” Papyrus returned from the kitchen and sat down beside Sans, looking genuinely worried.

“well, just goes to  _ show _ ya, then, hunh? i can change.  _ change _ the channel that is. i mean, ya got me there, pap; this one is pretty old.”

“SANS, IT’S THURSDAY. THE ONLY THINGS ON TONIGHT ARE RERUNS,” Papyrus came and sat down next to him.

Was it? Huh. Well that was kind of lame. But that’s what happens when your entire civilization has only one, three-month-old TV star. It was either Mettaton or the news. And Mettaton ran the news. He tried to come up with a half-decent pun, but his head was too foggy. He only shrugged and continued absently staring at the screen. Maybe tidying would have to wait until tomorrow, too. He hated going to sleep in a messy room night after night and all, but...what difference would one more make in the grand scheme of things?

“eh, i think i’ll just go to bed. nothing much on anyway. g’night, pap.” Sans got up from the couch and lumbered over to the foot of the stairs, legs already feeling like bricks. He did  _ not _ feel like scaling the stairs right now. But it had to be done if he wanted to go to bed. He took one step. Another. One more. Only...about a billion more to go. Sans groaned to himself. He looked over at Papyrus, now fixated on the show. Nah, no need to ask to be carried. That was baby bones stuff anyway. Still, it  _ had _ been rather nice when Papyrus had done it the other night...ugh, no. Not necessary. Sans was an adult for pete’s sake. He could do this on his own.

Sans steeled himself for the next step. Maybe if he envisioned the top of the stairs he’d get there quicker. Using that as his motivator he took the next step...

...and suddenly, he was at the top of the stairs. And feeling just a little sick.

...What?

He peered over the banister to see that Papyrus hadn’t moved. The soap opera was continuing just like before. Though he was reluctant to admit it, Sans knew this episode by heart - only because it had been on so many times of course - and he knew for a fact that he couldn’t have blacked out this time. If he had, Mettaton would have already declared his love to the soap. But he was still in the process of doing just that.

Was it a thing with the stairs? Whatever was going on here, it was weird.

But convenient. Guess he couldn’t complain. He was at the top of the stairs, now, wasn’t he? Now if he could just get rid of this nausea.

Sans closed his bedroom door behind him just as he heard a, “GOODNIGHT, BROTHER - FEEL BETTER!” from down below. He rubbed the back of his skull and collapsed on his mattress. Hopefully he wouldn’t have any dumb dreams tonight. He’d been pretty lucky last night at least. But he still shuddered whenever that nightmare crossed his mind. He could start making sense of it tomorrow. Just...needed...to sleep…


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More funky dreams and space-time shenanigans. And Papyrus.

“Sans.”

Ugh, not yet. Five more minutes, at least.

“Sans. Snap out of it.”

“oh, sorry, doc.”

...Wait…

Sans opened his eyes to find himself...hanging from the ceiling? No. Not quite. More like...hovering up in the corner of a room. Almost as if he was a security camera or something. His gaze fell upon a scene in a much more familiar setting. He’d definitely been here before. This was the Royal Laboratory, in Hotland. His own workplace. And there he was, down there. ‘Cept he was also up here. Okay. Sans decided he was just going to roll with it this time.

“You certainly seem distracted today.” It was that nicer-looking Gaster again. “What’s on your mind?”

“sorry, dings. i just didn’t get a lot of sleep last night,” Other Sans replied.  “after an experiment like  _ that _ , i couldn’t even keep my eyes closed!”

Gaster laughed a little. “Ah. Well, you’re in good company, then. I didn’t even leave the lab last night. I’ve been down there since you left yesterday, running additional tests on the Determination. It is arguably the most fascinating, mysterious substance I have ever studied.”

“wow, really man? that’s pretty rude of you, sendin’ me home for the night and having all the fun without me!” Other Sans winked.

“No one was forcing you to go home, Sans. In fact, I seem to recall expressly asking if you wanted to stay overtime with me. You said no.”

“really? i don’t remember this conversation.”

“That could be because you were already half-asleep.”

“ah, well...don’t listen to that guy. ‘half-asleep-sans’ is a big fat liar! y’shoulda slapped me awake or something.”

“I thought you said you didn’t get much sleep last night?”

“i didn’t, i swear! once i got home i was wide awake!”  Other Sans shrugged.  “i guess you could say i got  _ tired _ of sleeping!”

“Remind me again why I haven’t fired you yet.”

“‘cause y’need me, g. that...and this is my  _ dream _ job.”

“Okay, your options today are to help me in an  _ intelligent _ manner or to get out. Come on - let’s go downstairs. I have a lot to show you.”

Sans watched as the pair walked through a doorway he’d never seen before, Other Sans donning his lab coat as they went. The place was empty and silent now. And Sans still seemed to be rooted to the ceiling. Alright, then. So…

After several minutes of...well...hanging out, Sans became aware of a very quiet whisper. Where was that coming from? It gradually got more distinct, until it sounded like its owner was whispering right next to him. But when he turned to see who it was, no one was there. The whispering got louder. Sans started when he noticed movement out of the corner of his eye.

Down below, in the spot where Dr. Gaster had been standing, was a shadowy figure. It was wispy at first, but gradually became more substantial. Suddenly it started to look a lot more familiar.

This time, the only sounds were the whispering in Sans’ ear. Gaster jerked his head in the direction of the doorway the other two had disappeared through.

“can’t, pal. ‘m a little stuck up here, it’d seem,” he shrugged from his corner. Gaster slowly shook his head and a hand stretched out until it was wrapped around Sans’ wrist. A gentle tug and Sans was on the floor. Gaster turned and glided through the doorway. Sans shuddered as he remembered the figure gliding towards him in the last dream. He couldn’t decide whether it was a good thing to find out it had been Gaster all along or not; he could only follow the melting man into the darkness.

Sans blindly followed the whispers coming from just ahead of him. They seemed to be heading down a corridor. His soul lurched a little when the floor seemed to fall away in front of him. Oh, wait. Stairs. Phew! Down, down, down they went, the whispers guiding him the whole way.

“so, do you intend to keep me in the  _ dark _ forever, or were you planning on shedding some  _ light _ on the situation, g? ‘cause frankly, what’s going on here is about as clear as mud right now-”

Sans’ small talk was cut short when he found his face buried in Gaster’s back. The whispering intensified. Sans un-buried his face to squint at his surroundings. The room they were in was large, and brightly lit. There was Other Sans, leaning against a work table covered in all sorts of junk, fiddling with one of the instruments on it. Dr. Gaster was nowhere to be found. Sans turned to find that  _ his _ Gaster was also nowhere to be found. The whispering, too, had stopped.

“Alright, Sans, I’ve got the readings,” Dr. Gaster called as he emerged from a doorway at the far end of the room. He crossed the room in a few strides and spread an impressive array of papers and sticky notes on the table. Other Sans’ eye sockets widened.

“whoa, doc! you weren’t kiddin’ around when you said you were up all night, hunh?”

Dr. Gaster laughed.

“No, I wasn’t. Here - look at this one.” He gestured to one of the papers. Sans drew closer to get a better look. The page they were examining had what looked like a red, upside down monster soul drawn on it. Various scribbles surrounded it, most of them questions. Each one had a corresponding number, and down below the diagram were a set of corresponding notes. Dr.Gaster was pointing to the last one.

“SAVE? RESET?” Other Sans’ face screwed up exactly the same way Sans’ was at the moment. Just like looking in a mirror...only...not.  “what the heck is that supposed to mean?”

Dr. Gaster straightened himself up, looking very satisfied.

“It means that I may have figured out another use for Determination. One that could prove to be very useful.”

“okay, but what’s it  _ mean,  _ o wise one?” Guess this Gaster was about as good at being clear as the goopy one.

“I was getting to that,” Dr. Gaster replied, rolling his eyes. Still, he cracked a smile. “First of all, the two go hand in hand. One is relatively useless without the other. I don’t know if these are abilities that every human possesses or just the child, but I’d be willing to wager we would find these properties in any human soul, if only we had more to study. Perhaps in varying concentrations, but...anyway, let’s start with SAVE.”

Dr. Gaster shuffled a few pages to the top of the spread. Other Sans leaned in for a closer look. So did Sans.

“Imagine time as a length of string,” the doctor continued, running one long finger over his sketches. “and all of us are moving along the string. That string goes on infinitely, and we keep moving forward on it. But this property I found last night...this ability to SAVE...how shall I explain this? It’s almost like tying a knot in the string. Thus it can serve as a reference point.”

“so my guess is this is where RESET comes in?”

“That’s correct. To be able to SAVE is all well and good. But to add RESET to the picture...now  _ that’s _ where things start to get really intriguing. While normally we continue down the string without looking back, RESET allows one to return to that knot they tied in the string. It allows an individual to  _ go back _ in time to their SAVE point.”

Sans’ head was spinning as he took it all in. This was a lot to suddenly contemplate. Other Sans’ eye lights were shining as he put the pieces together.

“a chance to redo...that’s some gnarly stuff- i mean, the ramifications of an ability like that…”

“Yes, that’s what I wanted to tell you the most! If the ability to SAVE and RESET exists, then it’s possible that ours is not the only timeline. It’s like all the little individual threads making up the string. And if you could tie a “knot” in it, you could choose to follow one thread or another. They may move along the grand scheme in more or less the same direction, but they’ll never be exactly the same!” Dr. Gaster’s arms spread wide, almost knocking a coffee mug off the table in the process. He turned and started pacing the room, gaze fixed to the floor and hands flung all over the place.

“And with RESET, if you didn’t particularly like the thread you were on before, you can make a different choice and start following an entirely  _ new _ thread on the string!” the doctor’s hands were waving about wildly, his eyes alight with the spark of discovery. Other Sans was grinning as he watched, rubbing the back of his skull.

“geez, doc. this is a lot to take in. and you figured all this out on your own, hunh? do i even need to  _ be _ here anymore?” He winked as he idly picked up a page and began to study it.

“Need to  _ be _ h- SANS THIS IS MONUMENTAL! I  _ need _ you here more than ever before! This could possibly mean freedom for all of Monsterkind! If we could find a way to harness this power somehow...I need  _ you _ to help me tap into this resource! Are you in? Will you help me change the course of history?” the doctor came to a stop by the table again, looking at Other Sans intently.

“y’don’t have to ask me twice, g,”  came the instant reply. Other Sans reached up a hand, and the two exchanged a well-practiced high five. The small gesture sent chills down Sans’ spine. He’d never given much thought to his little habit of high fiving the air before.

What if this wasn’t just a dream?

~

“SANS, WAKE UP! YOU DON’T WANT TO BE LATE FOR YOU FIRST DAY OF TRAINING!”

Oh boy.

“c’mon, pap, can’t you give me, like, five more minutes?” Sans rolled over on his mattress, yawning and flinging an arm over his eye sockets. It had been a few days, and he still felt like he’d been run over by a Temmie stampede. Sleep. He just wanted to sleep. And preferably without these dumb dreams.

“I GAVE YOU FIVE MORE MINUTES FIVE MINUTES AGO! IT’S TIME TO GET UP AND GET THOSE BONES MOVING! COME ON, UP AND AT ’EM”

Sans only grunted in response. He was already on his way out again. Maybe if he stayed  _ very _ still, Papyrus would lose interest and leave him alone. He heard a sigh, then footsteps treading out of the room.

All was quiet. Maybe he’d be left to doze in peace after all.

“SANS!” Crash. “GET!” Bang. “UP!” Clang.

Sans was very much awake now. His eye sockets flew open in a panic. He whipped around to see his brother standing in his doorway, banging two pots together, a rather smug expression plastered on his face now that Sans was moving.

“papyrus, what the hell!? you scared me half to death!” he shouted as he fought to calm his breathing.

“HOW ARE YOU EVER GOING TO BECOME THE BEST DODGER IN THE UNDERGROUND IF YOU DON’T EVEN MOVE FROM YOUR MATTRESS? IF YOU WANT MY HELP WE’LL HAVE TO STICK TO A STRICT REGIMEN! ESPECIALLY SINCE I ONLY TOOK A HALF-DAY OFF FOR THIS. COME ON! GET DRESSED! THE DAY IS SLIPPING AWAY AS WE SPEAK!”

And with that, Papyrus was out the door. Sans took another moment to collect himself. Then he grinned. How could you stay mad at enthusiasm like that? He slid off of his mattress and donned the most comfortable things he could find. A pair of gym shorts and...eh, no sense changing into a clean shirt when he was probably just going to get dirty. He slipped his jacket on and stepped into his most comfortable sneakers. Perfect. He was ready.

“k, paps, where we going today?” he called as he shuffled down the stairs. Papyrus was practically pawing the floor, already dressed in one of his favorite shirts and a serviceable pair of sweats. One mittened hand was gripping the strap of a frayed backpack, and the other clutched two small paper sacks.

“A MOST EXCELLENT QUESTION, BROTHER!” Papyrus smiled as he handed Sans one of the paper bags. Sans opened it to find a sandwich and a bottle of milk. And a small container of spaghetti. “I HAVE THE PERFECT LITTLE CLEARING IN MIND FOR US TO BEGIN PRACTICING! KEEP UP - WE HAVEN’T A MOMENT TO LOSE!” Papyrus rushed out the door, a heroic, toothy smile leading the way. Sans chuckled and sauntered after him.

They walked through town, Papyrus enthusiastically greeting every bunny, bear and rock monster that crossed their paths. Sans would occasionally smile and wave, but for the most part he was content to let Papyrus do most of the talking. He took this opportunity to turn the dream he’d had over in his mind. Or as much as he could remember of it. He remembered he’d seen himself again. And Gaster had been in this one, too. Not just the handsome one, either. There had been something about...a human soul? No not quite. Something having to do with humans?

They made it to the edge of the woods and walked in relative silence. Papyrus only occasionally spoke up to indicate which direction they needed to turn. Normally Papyrus was always chattering.

“what’s up, bro? you got pretty quiet.”

“OH, SORRY. I’M JUST...ACTUALLY AS LONG AS YOU PROMISE NOT TO TELL ANYONE- I’M A LITTLE NERVOUS.”

“nervous?  _ you _ ? never thought i’d hear you say that.”

“YES, WELL...SANS...NOW THAT I HAVE HAD AMPLE TIME TO CONSIDER YOUR NEW SITUATION...I’M JUST WORRIED ABOUT YOU. YOU AND I BOTH KNOW YOU HAVE THE TENDENCY TO BE RATHER RECKLESS, AFTER ALL, AND-”

Sans interrupted him with a laugh. No need to start thinking drastic today.

“yeah, i guess you got a point there. i do tend to leap before i think, hunh? but there’s no need to go  _ jumping _ to conclusions so soon. i’ll be fine. heck,  _ you’re _ gonna make sure of that! and i promise i’ll be smarter from now on. no more stupid ideas for me!” He smiled up at Papyrus, whose worry was already starting to dissipate.

“YES, I WILL MAKE SURE OF THAT! AFTER ALL, THE GREAT PAPYRUS IS INCAPABLE OF MAKING BAD DECISIONS! I JUST HAVE TO BELIEVE THAT SOME OF MY GREAT WISDOM WILL RUB OFF ON YOU!”

Ah, Papyrus. It didn’t take much to get him going again.

They walked on, and Papyrus began relating a story about his training with Undyne from last week. Sans did his best to humor him, but admittedly only caught about half of what the taller skeleton was saying.

Did his dream from last night have something to do with his dream from several nights before? It sure seemed like they should. They both had a lot in common. For one thing, he’d seen himself in both of them. And that Gaster dude. And, evidently, the goopier version, too. For another thing, they’d both had something to do with a human. The kid that the King and Queen raised as their own before everything went  _ downhill _ for the whole Underground. Heh. That one was clever. Suddenly, he remembered that high five the scientists had given each other somewhere towards the end of the dream. His soul fluttered for a moment as he pulled his hand out of his pocket-

“-SANS? HAVE YOU BEEN LISTENING TO A THING I’VE BEEN SAYING?”

“oh, whoops, definitely not. sorry bro,” he grinned sheepishly.

“REALLY? UGH! I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU!”

“awe, don’t be like that! c’mon, tell it to me again. i’m all ears now.”

“NO, YOU’RE TOO LATE. AS MUCH AS I’D LOVE TO TELL IT AGAIN, WE’RE HERE.”

Papyrus stopped and gestured to the clearing opening up in front of them. It was fairly large, and nice and open. All around was a ring of the same tall, dormant trees that made up the rest of the Snowdin forest, a sign that once upon a time this cavern might not have been perpetually snow-laden.

“looks good, pap. so what’re we starting with today?”

“TODAY,” Papyrus said, pulling his pack off his shoulders and unzipping the biggest pocket, “YOU WILL BE DODGING THIS.”

A small, stuffed dummy emerged from the backpack and Papyrus drove it down into the ground. Sans stared at it. It stared back.

“uh, pap? not be rude or anything, but how’m i supposed to dodge something that doesn’t move?”

“EVERYONE HAS TO START SOMEWHERE,” Papyrus sighed. “AND IN YOUR CASE , I FIGURED IT WOULD PROBABLY BE BEST TO START WITH SOMETHING EASY AND...NOT LIKELY TO ACCIDENTALLY KILL YOU…-WHAT WITH HOW SEDENTARY YOU’VE BEEN LATELY.”

Sans laughed. Alright then. A dummy was better than air, at least. He wasn’t entirely sure how dodging a stationary object that couldn’t even fire projectiles at him was going to help him get better. But Papyrus was right. It was a start.

“well, ya got me there. i guess i have been  _ sleeping like a rock _ lately, hunh? okay, just tell me what you want me to do.”

“DODGE IT, SILLY! PRETEND IT’S COMING AT YOU WITH ONE OF UNDYNE’S HUGE ANNEEMAY SWORDS AND GET OUT OF THE WAY!”

For the next hour and a half, Sans dodged imaginary attacks while Papyrus shouted words of encouragement. It felt pretty silly at first, but before long, Sans really started to enjoy himself. He could almost see the attacks, almost imagine the dummy coming at him, and occasionally Paps would throw him off guard with a “HE’S COMING AT YOU FROM THE LEFT! THE  _ LEFT _ !” and Sans would have to think fast. By the time Papyrus called it, he was starting to feel like he was drowning in his own sweat. He collapsed in a heap on the upturned snow, breath coming in heaving gasps.

“AN HOUR AND A HALF. NOT BAD FOR STARTERS, BROTHER.”

“not bad?” Sans wheezed between gulps for air. “paps we’ve not even gone two hours and i already feel like i’m dying! and it’s not even a moving object!”

“OH COME ON, SANS, DON’T BE SO HARD ON YOURSELF. YOU’VE BEEN VERY SICK FOR THE PAST SEVERAL DAYS. YOU CAN’T EXPECT TO BE ABLE TO FIGHT THE WAY YOU DID BEFORE  _ ALREADY _ ! AND IF YOU’RE NO LONGER AS STRONG, THEN YOU HAVE TO REMEMBER TO TAKE BREAKS EVERY NOW AND THEN. YOU YOURSELF TOLD ME THE DOCTOR TOLD YOU NOT TO PUSH YOURSELF TOO HARD. BESIDES,” Papyrus uprooted the dummy and replaced it in his bag. “I HAVE TO BE IN WATERFALL IN AN HOUR, AND WE NEED TO GET YOU HOME. UNDYNE TOLD ME I WOULD BE GOING ON PATROL WITH HER! DO YOU HEAR THAT, SANS!?  _ PATROL _ !!!”

Well, it would have to be enough for now. Maybe someday, he’d be back to his old self. But today was clearly not that day. The brothers walked home together, eating their sack lunches. Papyrus chattered on about how cool it would be to go on his first ever patrol. Sans did his best to listen this time. Man, Papyrus was so cool! He was so confident and bold and clever. And he was finally going on a patrol! That really was big news.

Papyrus had been training for three months or so now, and the cooking lessons had started about a month and a half into it. He kept calling it his “SPECIAL ONE-ON-ONE PRIVATE TRAINING” with Undyne, but...Sans had a sneaking suspicion he knew what they were really for. Once again, it was a good thing Undyne had zeal to match the skeleton’s and a clever redirection of that zeal to boot.

They parted ways as soon as they got to the house.

“sorry i’m making you late, bro. have a good time, okay?”

“NEVER FEAR, BROTHER! I’M ALWAYS HAPPY TO WALK HOME WITH YOU, EVEN IF YOU MOVE ABOUT AS QUICKLY AS A MOLDSMAL SOMETIMES. I’LL JUST HURRY EXTRA FAST. IT ISN’T TOO FAR ANYWAY. HAVE A GOOD REST OF YOUR DAY! I’LL BE HOME LATER TONIGHT!”

Sans watched him break into a jog, up the path, into the fog and out of sight.

“welp, i guess i better get back to  _ my _ work.” he said to himself. He brought the mail in, and changed into some slippers, making sure to dump the unopened container of spaghetti Papyrus had packed him underneath the other garbage in the trash can. Maybe he’d be able to work on the machine for more than forty five minutes this time, though he wasn’t going to count on it. That practice had taken a lot out of him. Well, he needed to do  _ something _ today. His month of paid leave was almost up, and then he wouldn’t have much time to do anything at home.

Before long, Sans was back in his lab. He rolled himself back under the machine and grabbed the tool he’d been using last. That was as far as he got for several minutes. For one thing, he was  _ bone _ -weary. For another, he couldn’t help but remember what had happened the last time he touched the machine. He fought his way through the apprehension and reached up, but stopped short. What if it happened again? What would he do if it did? His hand paused just below a loose nut. What if it  _ never _ happened again? Well, he supposed it wouldn’t change him much, but that could mean he’d also lost the opportunity to discover something very, very interesting.

There were so many unknown variables here! What if the thing was dangerous? Hadn’t he just promised his brother earlier that day that there would be no more stupid decisions? Something could go wrong. He didn’t even know what the phenomenon was, and there was no one here to help him if it proved to be a threat. What if it hadn’t even happened at all, and he’d simply been imagining things? He just couldn’t know.

But he sure  _ wanted _ to.

He hesitated a moment longer, hand hovering under the nut. His soul was banging in his ribcage. Finally, he closed his eyes, sucked in his breath, and touched the tip of a finger to the nut.

When he opened his eyes, he was lying on the floor of a dark, dusty room. The air was thick and heavy. Everything was cast in that somber grey-green. Sans let his breath out.

This time, he didn’t let go.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> WHOOPS sorry! I've been having troubles keeping track of days lately! Didn't realize Saturday had come and gone! Enjoy! Or don't. It's a free internet.  
> ~~~  
> Sans goes on adventures in all sorts of places.

“no way…” Sans whispered as he looked around.  “i thought i’d been hallucinating before, but maybe not…”

He looked at the hand that was touching the machine. between his fingers was not a loose nut, but that marble he’d found in his hand after the experiment. Okay. Interesting. Carefully, he shifted. He was still in this dark place. He rose to his feet, clutching the marble in his fist. Nothing changed.

“guess i better be careful not to  _ lose my marbles _ here if i wanna figure out what’s going on.”

He looked around him for a moment. It looked exactly the same as in his dreams. Only there was a heightened sense of “realness” to it all that put Sans on edge. Everything seemed much sharper, much dirtier, and much less familiar.

On one wall was a key hole. In the opposite was a doorway. Nothing else adorned the room. Sans poked his head around the doorframe and peered into the next room. It was much larger, and filled with refrigerators. There were some sinks to his right, and a few counters lining the walls. None of the fridges were on.

Sans cautiously stepped out into the room and began to creep along a line of fridges to the other doorway. Just as he passed one, movement out of the corner of his eye caught his attention. He whipped his head around, but there was nothing there. Sans stared at the spot for another moment, gulped and continued onward. He was aware of beads of sweat forming on his brow. Maybe this hadn’t been such a grand idea.

He made it to the doorway and felt a wave of relief to be out of there wash over him. Surprisingly, the next room was  _ very _ familiar.

There, off to his left and mounted on the wall, hung a large skull, with tubes and wires ruffling its otherwise sleek design. He’d been here before. At least in his dreams. This was that same machine Dr. Gaster had used to extract the...Determination, was it? So did this mean this was a dream? Or that the dreams had been real? Sans kind of hoped neither were the truth, because dang, this thing looked scary. Sans decided to keep his distance. It looked like it could come alive and snap him up at any moment, despite the three-inch layer of dust covering its snout, and the obvious peeling and rusting of paint and metal.

He heard a shuffling from the doorway near the machine. Sans tensed, doing his best to keep his bones from rattling. A familiar shape emerged from the shadows.

“oh, it’s you,” Sans breathed a sigh of relief.  “are you gonna give me some answers now? ‘cause i’m pretty confused. spill it. what’s up?”

Gaster said nothing. Well, nothing intelligible anyway. Instead he made a gurgling, growling sound and gestured for Sans to follow him back through the doorway. He turned and disappeared. Sans followed, eyeing the menacing skull on the wall as he went. Still inanimate. Sans was fine with that.

The room Gaster had returned to was another small one. There wasn’t much in there; just a couple of shelves of old tapes and stuff, and a beat up TV. And Sans had thought he’d never see a set that looked worse than his own! Gaster motioned Sans over, and pointed at the power button. Confused, Sans poised a finger over it.

“you want me to press that for you? why not do it yourself?”

Gaster only nodded and continued pointing.

“well, okay, but if you wanted to watch TV together you could’ve just come over to my place,” Sans shrugged as pressed the button.  “not to be rude, but your place is pretty creepy, and i don’t even think this TV works...any...more…”

The TV was on. Gaster was trying to say something now, but still nothing intelligible was coming out. He pointed emphatically at the channel buttons, eyes wide, body shuddering in a “not-creepy-way-at-all.” Sans started pressing through the channels, every single one had its own variation of white noise. Exciting stuff. Gaster continued to make inarticulate noises beside him until suddenly, for a split second, it sounded like real speech. But it was gone in a flash. Gaster jumped and waved his hand-things around. Sans got the message after a moment. Go back. Okay. He flipped back through the past few channels, much more slowly this time. Sans reached channel number 17. Suddenly, he could understand the person next to him, through the TV. It sounded staticy, but at least it sounded like a real monster’s voice.

“Testing, test-  _ there _ ! There it is! Ah! Haha! Oh! Oh, my goodness, it’s actually working! I can’t believe it’s working! Haha! I’ve never had anybody to test it with, and I can’t touch it myself, but I just  _ knew _ there’d be a frequency I could ride! Sans, I am positively overcome with joy! I thought I’d never be able to talk to anyone ever again! I have so much I need to tell you!”

“whoa, man, slow down. don’t hurt yourself! i still need answers.”

“Ah, yes - of course you do! You must be so confused! Oh this is so wonderful! You can actually understand me!” Was that a...tear…? Trickling down his face? “Sans, I could  _ hug _ you right now, except I can’t. I can’t touch anything in this realm. But oh how I wish I could! -You can still understand me, right?”

Sans laughed.  “well,  _ understand _ is maybe a generous word, pal. yeah i can understand you, but you’re still not making any sense.”

“Oh, goodness, forgive me! I’ve so much to say. I haven’t talked to anyone in who  _ knows _ how long! Pardon me. Ask me anything you’d like to. Go ahead.” There was a wide, goopy grin on his face as he waited, leaning forward a little, for Sans to respond.

Well, he was an enthusiastic guy, that was for certain.

“okay…”  Sans searched his mind. “let’s start with who you are. cause i honestly still have no idea, and ‘i am gaster’ really doesn’t help that much.”

“Right. That would probably help us both tons. I  _ am _ Gaster, though. Just not the one you knew, I suppose. I’ve, erm,  _ changed _ a bit since the days we used to work together-”

“-no, no, no, that’s not what i asked. i’m asking who you are, not who you were. you gotta slow down, or i’ll never keep up. look, for now, i don’t  _ care _ that we used to work together or whatever - let’s just take this one thing at a time. i wanna know who you  _ are _ .”

“Oh dear, you’re right. I am getting rather carried away, aren’t I? And you don’t even remember, anyway. Well, okay. I’ll do my best to ‘take it slow.’” The man paused, heaving a deep sigh. He closed his eyes and opened them again. Now he looked a little more focused. “You are aware, I presume, of those dreams you’ve been having lately, correct?”

“yeah...what’s your point? that’s not you, is it? i mean... _ you _ were there, too, but...”

“It is me...and it’s not. And before you pin the blame on me, I’m not the one giving you these dreams - they’re your own fabrication, I’m guessing - but ever since you landed in the void, I’ve been able to contact you through them...guide them...show you what I need to show you. Quite a phenomenon. It’s not the most ideal setup, but it’ll do until I can work out better ways. And besides, I shouldn’t complain...it’s the first time I’ve been able to communicate with you - with  _ anyone _ \- in a long time.” Gaster’s frame drooped, and he seemed to melt down, closer to the floor. Sans sat down, too.

“Honestly, I was very surprised. Back when I first...became what I am now...I tried everything I could to get through to you. Nothing worked. I was shut off from the entire world - a spectator of everything, but unable to interact with anything. I gave up after a while. Do you know what it’s like? To watch the world go by in front of you - a world where everything is exactly the same...except you don’t exist? Everything functions perfectly without you…”

Gaster got quiet, looking at the floor, smile gone. Sans felt a little uncomfortable. Should he say something, or...? What could he say, though?

“Haha...the thought used to terrify me…” he finally continued, his smile returning in some measure. “It doesn’t anymore...instead it just punishes me for my mistakes…” Gaster’s face turned bitter. He smirked down at his hands, eyes cold with contempt. He got quiet again.

“well, i’m...sorry about that,” Sans finally ventured. This was officially awkward.

“No, no, don’t apologize- oh, dear, pardon me, that probably didn’t really answer your question, did it? Let me try again. Here- we’ll introduce ourselves to one another. How does that sound?”

Gaster shook the distraction from his head, and cleared his throat.

“Hello, my name is Dr. W. D. Gaster, former Royal Scientist, and before that Head of the CORE Construction Department of the Royal Laboratories. What is your name?”

“uh, sans,” Sans replied. This felt stupid. But if it helped Gaster keep his clearly disheveled thoughts more organized than so be it.  “sans the skeleton. I work in the physics and engineering departments.” He held out his hand instinctively. Gaster reached for it, as if acting on impulse as well, but his hand passed right through. There was moment of uncomfortable silence. Sans put his hand down. Gaster did the same.

“Okay, now that we have that out of the way, next question,” Gaster finally said, tucking his hands into his “lap.”

Sans thought for a moment.

“alright...where am i? is this a real place?”

“It’s as real as the clothes on your back, my friend. You’re just not actually here.”

“hunh?”

“What I mean is this is part of the lower levels of the Royal Laboratories. But no one’s physically been down here for quite some time. You can probably find it when you go back to work, if you look in the right places, but I’ve noticed it doesn’t really like to be found. Has a mind of its own, it does. Right now, you’re here only in your mind. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be able to see me. I guess you could call it...a ‘virtual’ reality of sorts...wherein I can come and communicate with you. That’s why I gave you that piece of me - the marble - so that I could try and reach you again once you left the void.”

Okay, whoa, information overload. But it sparked the next question in Sans’ mind.

“okay, so as long as i hold onto this marble, i’ll be able to talk with you?”

Gaster nodded. “As far as we’ve tested it, yes; it would appear so.”

“cool.”  He clenched his fist around the marble a little tighter, suddenly aware of just how valuable it might be.

“my next question, then, is what was the deal with that void? what the heck happened there?”

Gaster didn’t answer at once. He looked down at the floor. Finally, he sighed.

“The void is our creation- sort of. I mean, it has always been there, but you were the one to come up with the theory for it, and I discovered and found access to it. Unfortunately, it’s a little harder to get back out once you’re in.”

Sans had helped discover that thing? What? Ugh, no, wait. One thing at a time.

“okay, but what  _ is _ it, exactly? and if it’s so hard to get out how come i’m not stuck in there with you now?”

“That’s...rather difficult to explain...especially when there is so much you can’t remember. I suppose the best answer I can give you right now is it’s a world separate from your own...and that machine brought you there...but I have seen…- I knew you couldn’t stay with me in there, so I had to send you back.”

So it  _ was _ because of Gaster that Sans was still alive. Well. That changed his perspective on things a little.

“Of course I didn’t send you back completely without tools. There’s the marble- I’m quite pleased it actually worked this time; I’ve been trying to reach you ever since you first woke up. And there’s th-”

Suddenly his voice reverted back to its former growling and glitching noises. Sans looked at the TV in alarm. It was still set to the right channel. He was still holding the marble as tightly as ever. Why wasn’t he hearing words anymore?

“gaster, i can’t understand you anymore. i dunno what just happened, but i can’t tell what you’re saying.”

Gaster stopped short, looking rather confused. Then he looked frustrated, and started waving his hands around, making all these signs Sans couldn’t quite decipher. The growling intensified.

“sorry, doc. i can’t speak sign language...maybe your marble’s busted?”  Sans shrugged.

His companion looked exasperated now. And maybe even a little fearful? But he shook his head and pointed to the marble. Then he made a motion like he was putting something in a pocket. Sans looked down at his jacket.

“y’want me to put it in my pocket? won’t that mean i’ll have to let go?”

The goopy scientist only nodded; he looked very sad indeed. Gaster made a few more hand signs, but they meant nothing to him. Sans gave him a look meant to say, “are you sure?” and was met with a resigned expression. The man nodded again.

Okay. Guess this was it. Sans’ soul hurt for the melty mass in front of him. He was clearly lonely...and maybe just a little off his rocker. And now the one thing that had been working so well to communicate had stopped working. But what other choice did he have? He put the marble in his pocket, and hesitantly took his hand away. The room around him began to dissolve. His own lab, bright and inviting, began to materialize. Just as the last of the other room disappeared, Gaster gave him a sad little wave.

Sans waved back.

He was back in his lab, under his machine again.

Whoa,  _ nellie _ !

Sans felt drained. He was shaking all over and his mind was foggy. Already, the events that had just transpired were slipping away. He shook his skull and ran through them several times, before they could disappear entirely. He still had pretty much no clue why, but he was smart enough to recognize that these were memories he wanted to hold on to.

He rolled out from under the machine, mind brimming with questions. Was he ever going to get to ask them now? Was he ever even going to see Gaster again?

He shuddered involuntarily. Screw the machine today. He needed some ketchup. And a nap.

Sans checked the time on his way out of the lab. Hardly five minutes had passed. Weird. He would have sworn he’d been in that other lab for, like, at least 40 minutes. That other lab that Gaster had said was underneath the very one where Sans worked. He immediately forgot his nap.

Sans was mostly dressed and out the door in less than five minutes.

~

With a swipe of his ID card, the door in front of him clicked and slid open. Sans wasn’t technically due back for another couple of days, but whatever. It felt pretty good to be back anyway. He walked through the familiar halls, tucking in his shirt and adjusting his hastily knotted tie. He’d never liked business casual that much. If he was ever appointed Royal Scientist his first initiative would be to ban business casual. His shoes scuffed on the tile as he made his way to the room he remembered seeing Dr. Gaster and Other Sans in.

Drat. The room was alive with activity. There was also no mysterious doorway. Scientists from all departments were coming in and out through all the ones that  _ did _ exist, though, exchanging hellos and research findings, or passing projects off to one another.

“S-sans! You’re back e-early!” a voice startled him from behind.

Sans turned to see Alphys standing behind him, a stack of papers in her claws. The yellow lizard had been one of his closest engineering buddies for a while now, and she had quickly gained the respect of many of the other scientists in the department as well. She was of the unassuming sort for sure, what with her almost crippling shyness and habit of stuttering, but she was also one of the most brilliant minds in the entire lab despite her age.

“oh, hey, alph. yeah, i know i wasn’t due back for another couple of days, but i ran into...a bit of a road block...at home. figured i’d come back a little early, since my project kinda bit the dust.” Would it sound absolutely insane or just plain crazy telling her about what all had happened in the past couple of weeks? Probably both.

“Oh, that’s too bad. Umm…what happened to it?”

San sighed.  “long story short, that machine i started building several months ago went kerplooey in my face. and it’s, uh, not lookin’ so great anymore.”

“Oh no!” Alphys brought a hand to her mouth. “A-are you gonna...um...be able to fix it?”

“eh, i’ve tried a little bit since it broke, but i’ve been real sick the past couple weeks. haven’t been able to do much at all lately.”

“W-well...that explains why you’ve got such dark circles under your eyes- s-sorry! I didn’t mean to - umm…”

Sans chuckled.  “nah, it’s fine, really. i know i probably look like i got dropped from the roof of the cavern, but i’m on my feet now.”

“Well...that’s good I guess...hey, do you um, wanna help me go through this report? It - it’d be nice and easy. A-and, maybe, um...i-if you wanted me to, I could, um - I could look at your project s-some time? M-maybe I could help you fix it, y’know?”

Before he’d started working with Alphys, Sans had never known lizard monsters could blush so much. He laughed and took some of the stack of papers from her.

“hey, yeah, that sounds great. i’ll be happy to go through this with you. and i’ll betcha anything if you took a look at my contraption, i could learn a thing or two. you’ve always been so much better with the mechanical stuff.”

Alphys was currently breaking the record for turning beet-red.

“Awe, shucks,” she said, looking down at her feet. “I’m n-not  _ that _ great, y’know.”

“‘course you are. c’mon let’s go find a quieter room to review this thing in.”

They walked together through the halls, periodically stopping in doorways to see if there was any vacant space to claim. They weren’t having much luck.

“Oh! Sans! I almost forgot- you came back on the perfect day!”

“oh? what makes it so perfect? didja  _ scale _ your way up the ladder and get a promotion?” Sans winked at her.

“S-sans! That one was weak! But, ummm...y-yeah, actually. A, uh...pretty b-big one.”

Sans’ soul skipped a beat. He had a pretty good idea just what sort of promotion she was talking about.

“a  _ big _ one, hunh? what are you, now, head of the whole engineering department instead of just half?” he threw over his shoulder, putting on his best joker’s smile. Alphys grinned, turning pink again.

“No, even better! A-asgore’s appointed me to be the R-royal Scientist!” She looked like she could hardly contain herself. “H-he really liked M-mettaton. S-said it was the most unique a-and, um...g-genius invention he’d ever seen! And he was impressed by all the cool things Mettaton’s been doing, too!”

It was significantly harder to keep up that encouraging smile now. Granted he should have seen this coming. Mettaton truly was an amazing invention. A robot with a soul! Who knew such a thing could be done? But Sans had really hoped he’d be able to finish his machine in time.

What could he say, though? He couldn’t throw a tantrum about it. He was an adult for crying out loud. And Alphys was his friend. She probably deserved it more than he did anyway. Still…

“whoa, that’s...that’s really great, alph! i’m so excited for you!” Sans did his best to keep the wobbliness out of his voice. This was just the perfect ending to the absolute worst couple of weeks he’d ever experienced.

“Thank you, Sans! Asgore hims-self is coming t-tomorrow to officially appoint me. He s-said he had a super secret as-ssignment for me.”

Oh, great. Even better. Now the king of all monsters could come and see what a total screw-up Sans had become in such a short amount of time, too. Unless of course Sans just stayed home and didn’t come back until he was actually scheduled to…

“I’m...uh...actually kinda n-nervous about it- I w-was wondering if...if ummm...if y-you could b-be there, too? Just for m-moral support, y’know? I’d, uh, really appreciate it...b-but don’t feel obligated! You don’t h-have to if you’re busy or something-”

“i’ll be there, alph. i promise. don’t worry yourself too much. you’ll do great.” Sans did his best to sound excited. He wasn’t sure how well it was working. It didn’t feel like it was. He used the next doorway as an excuse to hide his face. The room was empty. Bingo.  “hey, i found one.”

Alphys followed Sans into the room and they sat down across from each other at one of the work tables. Sans wished he could be just about anywhere else at the moment. Like, for instance, down in the fabled other lab. Too bad there were so many people around. Sure he was allowed to go just about anywhere as an employee, but Sans wouldn’t be surprised if he discovered he was going to have to put holes in walls to find those mysterious lower levels Gaster had been talking about.

They worked in silence, annotating and correcting page after page. Sans was only half-paying attention to his work.

Perhaps if he stayed long enough, he could go poking around after most of the other employees had gone home for the night. He could get into the archives and try and find some schematics or something. That’d be a good place to start.

“Sans?”

“mm?”

“You’ve been...umm...really quiet. A-are you okay?”

“oh, sorry, alph. i’m just distracted, i guess. it’s been a pretty packed coupla weeks.”

“Y-you wanted the position...didn’t you?”

Oh. Sans looked up in surprise, expecting to see anything other than what he saw. Alphys looked like she was on the verge of  _ tears _ ! She pulled her large glasses from her snout and began wiping them with a cloth procured from a pocket.

“I’m s-sorry...I know h-how much you w-wanted to be the one...I mean...that’s why you took a month off, i-isn’t it? To finish your machine?” she sniffed.

Oh boy. What to say before the waterworks turned on and all was lost?

“nah...nah i’m fine. i didn’t want it  _ that _ bad. listen, alph,”  Sans said as casually as he could. “i couldn’t be happier for you! no  _ bones _ about it!”

That got a little giggle. Good. But then Alphys frowned.

“B-but what about all those times y-you would talk about being the R-royal Scientist?”

“what times?”

“L-like...like that morning you came in and the first thing you said was, ‘when i’m the royal scientist, i’m going to add a breakfast break to the work schedule.’ o-or, ummm, that time when you wouldn’t stop griping about the bringing-your-brother-to-work policy...or-”

“okay, okay, ya got a point there. but those are just me jokin’ around,  _ tibia _ honest.”

“...R-really? Do you promise you’re not lying to me? B-because I’d feel s-so horrible if I found out you were! I’d never be able to forgive myself!” Alphys fumbled with her claws. Then she looked up and pinned Sans with an intense gaze.

“Are you telling me the truth? Are...are you really okay with this?”

Sans did his best not to look away.

“c’mon, alphys, would i ever tell you a  _ fib _ ula?”


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's been a busy couple of weeks. So...if things start slowing down a little, I apologize in advance to the people (if there are any) who feel like they will die if I don't update. I have finally -takes a deep breath- ...I have finally caught up to myself. So if I don't update as consistently, it is because I no longer have a solid, 3-6-chapter buffer between where I am and where you guys are in the story. I'm gonna try and fix that these next two week and draft a couple of chapters so I have my cushion back. But if that doesn't work out, know I haven't given up on this. It's just (as with all pieces of writing) a work in progress.  
> ~~~  
> Sans starts digging for a past that may or may not actually exist(?).

“Have a good night, Sans! Good to have you back today!”

“good to be back, mickey. see ya tomorrow?”

“See you tomorrow!”

Sans waved the other scientist out the door, a grin plastered on his face. As soon as the door shut, he dropped it. Man that took  _ forever _ ! Sans checked the time. Almost 11 PM. Why’d all his co-workers have to be so... _ dedicated _ ?

He was fairly certain he had free reign of the building now. More or less. If he stuck to the less communal areas at least, he probably wouldn’t run into someone. All the better if he could swing it. Talking to anyone else today sounded like a special kind of hell. If this weren’t so important, Sans would already be home, probably fast asleep.

The Archives were just around the corner. Hopefully some answers were, too. The little library was empty. Perfect.

Sans went straight to the Rs first.

He ran a finger across the books and binders lining the shelves.

“royal...royal…” he reached the point in the alphabet and scanned the labels on every single item. There were several spines bearing the title “Royal Scientist.” Sans went through each one, page by page. Much to his confusion, none of them made any mention of a W. D. Gaster. They only outlined the duties and powers of the position. Which were actually pretty staggering.

“gee maybe i don’t want this job; sounds like a  _ royal _ pain to have,” he chuckled to himself as he thumbed through one of the last few manuscripts. He decided to ignore the sick feeling that came with thinking too hard about that and refocused his attention on his task. He made it through the last one with no more luck than the others.

Well, okay. So did this Gaster guy even  _ exist _ , then? Because Sans was starting to wonder if he was merely a projection or something. Was Sans losing his mind? He rummaged in his pants pocket and pulled the marble out. The face in it seemed to swirl in on itself, creating the illusion of a living, breathing thing. He shook his head as he studied the marble. If he was losing his mind, then at least he wasn’t losing his marbles. No. He couldn’t be going crazy. Otherwise he wouldn’t have this thing. Sans turned the little glass ball over in his fingers. The marble was definitely real. So logically, everything else ought to be as well, right?

Suddenly, the marble slipped through his fingers. Before Sans had a chance to catch it, the ball rolled under the shelf, out of sight.

“aw, man…” he grumbled as he got down on the floor to reach after it.  “c’mon, i have neither the kneecaps nor the patience for this tonight-”

The marble was resting on something. It looked very dusty. Sans had to lay down flat to reach it, it was so far under the shelf. He shimmied the thing and his marble out and rolled into a sitting position. It was a folder. A really gross folder. Looked like it hadn’t been touched in a few years at least. He blew hard. Ugh. Bad idea. 

Once he was done coughing, and his eyes had stopped streaming, he wiped the rest of the grime away with a hand. Printed on the front of the folder was a bunch of strange symbols. But wait...these looked familiar! Of course! These were the same as the ones on his machine’s blueprints!

“R...E...D...A? ...C…’REDACTED?’” Sans didn’t feel any more enlightened. It didn’t help that these things were not easy to decipher. It had been a while since he’d last needed to decode them, and he was a little rusty. His brow furrowed in confusion as he flipped the folder open to reveal a fairly thick file. All of it written in the same strange symbols. Sans took one look at the first page, shook his head, and got up.

“y’know what? i don’t think anyone’s gonna mind if i just take this home with me. i can go over it when i have more time and less of headache.”

He tucked the folder into the back of his pants and moved on to the schematics section of the small library.

This section was a little bit larger than the Royal Scientist section. Sans groaned. Going through one tiny shelf was one thing. Going through five big ones was another. Maybe he should come back tomorrow. But…

Eh, he could at least scan the shelves. See if anything looked promising.

He found a few things on the first shelf that looked like they might hold some answers. He decided to start with the three most obvious choices. He reached up and carefully eased a large binder labelled “Royal Laboratories Proposed Layout: 1971,” then “Royal Laboratories Layout: 1987,” then “Royal Laboratories Air Ducts Schematics: 2004.” He took them over to a table and opened the oldest one first.

He had to keep himself from laughing. The proposed layout was so...different…than what the building actually turned out to be. And it didn’t seem efficient at all. Did Asgore himself design these floors? The King was lousy with names - everyone knew that - but based on the artist’s signature at the bottom of each page, it seemed he wasn’t so great with architecture either. Still, Sans could see elements in the original design that carried over into the next layout he’d pulled.

The 1987 lab was still much smaller than the lab Sans worked in now, or even the one he’d grown up with. But he supposed that was to be expected. After all, ‘87 was a pretty long time ago. So he wasn’t surprised to find no documentation of any lower levels in this one.

2004 wasn’t  _ too _ long ago. Well, it was more recent than 1987, anyway. And while Sans was no expert on architecture and construction, he was fairly certain air ducts tended to go through the  _ whole _ building. Surely, he could find the lower levels somewhere in here. He poured over every detail on every page.

No dice.

He replaced the binders and returned to his seat with three more. Still nothing. Before he knew it, almost two hours had passed. So far, the only thing he’d managed to find was an obnoxious nick in the floor near his seat that he knew he’d never be able to unsee.

Sans sat back in his chair, rubbing the back of his skull. This was going to be harder than he’d originally thought.

“oh, c’mon. i was only joking about the putting holes in the walls thing. there’s gotta be  _ something _ about ‘em  _ somewhere _ in this room. entire floors don’t just  _ disappear _ !”

It was clearly time to call it a night. Sans returned the latest stack of binders and maps to their places and shut off the lights. The hallway outside the Archives was dark. Most of the lights had been turned off for the night, leaving only every fourth one to light his way. Sans checked the time. Nearly four in the morning. Shoot. He hadn’t expected to stay that long. He hurried his way up the hall and took the stairs two at a time, not remembering until it was too late that he couldn’t really do that anymore.

After he’d caught his breath again, he continued up, much more slowly this time.

He finally exited the building at 4:35. Geez, at this rate he was going to get home just in time to get cleaned up and come back to work. And Papyrus was probably worried sick. It wasn’t like Sans had left a note or anything. Would the Riverperson still be making their rounds? Eh, probably not. Still, he supposed it wouldn’t hurt to check. Sans made his way down to where the river connecting most of the Underground flowed. Much to his dismay but not at all to his surprise, there was no one there. He groaned. That meant he would have to walk back home, all the way to Snowdin.

“i do  _ not _ need this right now,”  he griped.  “i shouldn’t have stayed so long. heck, maybe i should’ve gone home with mickey! i could have been sleeping this whole time. instead i’m stuck all the way out in hotland, up the river without a paddle!... _ or _ a boat!”

Sans could picture his mattress perfectly. There was nowhere else he would rather have been right at that moment. Well, the only way he was going to get there was by walking, now. He set off, back up the hill he’d just come down. Well, at least he would get to wander through the beautiful caves of Waterfall on his way home. For, like, a couple hours. Maybe he shouldn’t have promised Alphys he’d be at work tomorrow. Or maybe he should just go back to the lab and sleep there for the night. Nah. he needed to let Papyrus know he was okay.

He reached the top of the hill and set off in the direction of home, thinking of nothing but his bedroom. His eye sockets were already drooping. He risked closing them for a moment, simply reveling in the feeling of not having to look at anything.

Suddenly his face connected with a wall. Sans’ eyes flew open.

He was in his bedroom.

Okay.

At first he thought he was hallucinating. He was certainly tired enough to be. Sans blinked a couple times. Shook his head. Slapped himself. Still the only thing he could see was that offensive shade of maroon-brown that was his bedroom wall. He looked down at the carpet. The familiar ugly zigzags snaked their way across the floor.

Okay this time  _ for sure _ he knew he couldn’t have blacked out.

Well, he could worry about that later. At least he was home now. He  _ could _ just flop on his mattress and call it a day...but he also had a feeling there was someone else in the house who needed to go to bed. As tired as he was, there was no way he’d be able to sleep with a guilty conscience. Sans eased open his door and peered down into the living room. There he was, as predicted, sitting cross-legged in front of the door. Now how best to go about this without scaring him?

“...h-hey, bro. whatcha doing out here? aren’t you usually asleep by now?”

Papyrus started and sprung from his seat. “BROTHER! WHERE! HAVE! YOU! BEEN!?”

Oh look. The guilt train...arriving just in time. All aboard.

“i’ve, uh, been in my room?” Sans shrugged, doing his best to play it off casually. It didn’t work.

“NOT ALL NIGHT, YOU HAVEN’T! I MOST DEFINITELY LOOKED IN YOUR ROOM EARLIER AND IT WAS EMPTY! I’VE BEEN WORRIED SICK, SANS! FIRST THING TOMORROW, WE ARE GOING OUT AND GETTING YOU A CELL PHONE- I DON’T WANT TO HEAR ANY BUTS ABOUT IT! I AM SICK OF NOT BEING ABLE TO REACH YOU! YOU CAN’T JUST GO OUT FOR HOURS AND HOURS AND HOURS AND NOT TELL ME WHERE YOU’RE GOING AND EXPECT ME TO NOT WORRY! I MEAN, ESPECIALLY WITH YOUR NEW CONDITION-”

“-whoa, whoa, whoa, bro, calm down. i’m here and i’m fine. i don’t  _ really _ need a cell, do i?”

Papyrus climbed the stairs three at a time and came to tower over Sans. He looked like the world’s angriest mother.

“YES YOU DO. ESPECIALLY IF YOU’RE GOING TO STAY OUT AT SUCH UNGODLY HOURS AND NOT TELL ME WHERE YOU’RE GOING! FOR ALL I KNEW YOU COULD HAVE BEEN ATTACKED AND-”

“-paps, please! calm down, okay? nothing of the sort happened. i went back to work today is all. stayed...a bit later than i expected to. i had a lot to get caught up on, y’know.”  Sans was quickly becoming aware of how little patience he had left today.

“ENOUGH TO KEEP YOU THERE UNTIL FOUR THIRTY IN THE MORNING?” Papyrus shot back, giving him one of his signature scrutinizing glares.

Sans shrugged, casting his gaze to the living room below. He wasn’t wrong.

Papyrus sighed and bent down, putting a hand on each of Sans’ shoulders.

“I CAN’T LET YOU OUT OF MY SIGHT, CAN I? EVERY TIME I TURN AROUND YOU’VE GONE AND DONE ANOTHER STUPID SOMETHING OR OTHER. AND YOU PROMISED ME NO MORE STUPID DECISIONS! YOU CAN’T MAKE PROMISES IF YOU’RE JUST GOING TO BREAK THEM ALL THE TIME. SO YES, YOU NEED A PHONE. I NEED TO KNOW YOU’RE AT LEAST SAFE IF YOU’RE GOING TO BREAK YOUR PROMISE AND BE STUPID, OKAY?”

Wow, this was clearly more important to him than Sans had thought it’d be. Sans didn’t want to look his brother in the face anymore. All he could see there was hurt and worry and fear. All of which he had managed to cause simply by getting distracted. He needed to be more careful from now on. He also needed to sleep.

He sighed, studying the ugly carpet with a new level of appreciation.  “...alright, bro. i’ll get a phone. but it’ll have to wait. i gotta go back to work tomorrow. i promised alphys i’d be there.”  Sans turned to go back into his room, but Papyrus’ hands held him back.

“OH AND YOU’RE GOING TO KEEP YOUR PROMISE TO HER BUT NOT THE ONE YOU MADE TO ME? I SEE HOW IT IS!”

“look, paps, just- just chill okay? i’m fine!”  Sans finally snapped. He shoved Papyrus’ hands off, taking several steps back to avoid recapture. “everything’s fine. but it’s been a long day and i’m frickin’ tired! i need to go to sleep now if i’m gonna be there for alph’s ceremony.”

“CEREMONY? THERE’S A CEREMONY? WHAT FOR?”

Ah, crap. Now he was going to have to say it out loud.

“alphys got appointed to be the royal scientist,” he muttered, shoving his hands in his pockets. Good thing this carpet was so interesting.

At first there was no response. Sans looked up. Papyrus was staring at him with this weird look on his face. Something between realization and dread.

“SANS, I- I’M SO SORRY,” he finally said.

“heh. why’re  _ you _ sorry? ‘s’not  _ your _ fault i busted my machine. i’m the one who blew it. and anyway...you have to admit: a robot with a soul is pretty tough to beat. she deserves it, man. deserves it more than i do. alphys doesn’t do stupid stuff. alphys doesn’t break her promises. she tests responsibly. she doesn’t screw up because of  _ one frickin’ error _ ! she-”

“-SANS.”

Sans looked up again. There was nothing but love and sympathy in his brother’s eyes. He had his arms stretched wide, beckoning. This was what made Papyrus so great. There he was, kneeling on the floor, not a word out of him, simply waiting. Patiently waiting. And had he not been fuming just a moment ago? Sans sighed and closed the space between them. Papyrus wrapped him up in a tight hug. They stayed like that for a while. Sans swallowed the lump in his throat. No crying tonight. Crying was for baby bones.

“heh...thanks, paps...i needed that,” he finally mumbled, pulling away.

“OF COURSE YOU DID, BROTHER. THE GREAT PAPYRUS ALWAYS KNOWS WHAT YOU NEED. AND NOW YOU NEED TO GO TO BED SO YOU CAN GO SUPPORT YOUR FRIEND TOMORROW. WOULD- WOULD YOU LIKE ME TO COME WITH YOU? SO THAT YOU HAVE SOME SUPPORT AS WELL?”

“nah, bro. i’ll be fine.”  Sans moved to go back into his room, throwing his best smile at Papyrus.  “but thanks.”

“PROMISE?”

“...promise.”

~

Papyrus had insisted on skipping the bedtime story again. That was...five nights in a row? Six? Fifteen? Eh…

Sans shuffled across his floor, tossing the folder on his dresser and body slamming his mattress in one fluid motion. He buried his face in his pillow for a moment, feeling for all the world like his bones were melting. He heaved a great sigh. It felt so nice to be horizontal! But then he groaned. He needed to set an alarm. Probably three. Otherwise he’d never make Alphys’ appointment ceremony.

It took every ounce of his remaining will to get up and set his clock. His fingers fumbled with the buttons as he strained to see the numbers clearly.

Sans didn’t remember returning to his mattress. He didn’t remember tangling himself up in his sheets. He simply let himself slip into deep, much-needed sleep.

What a day.

~

Sans awoke feeling better than he had in a long time. No weird dreams. No visits from Gaster. And for once he felt like he had energy. Maybe he was getting better after all! He’d have to go see Dr. Aras soon to see. He sighed in content and turned to view the clock.

His soul dropped to the bottom of his feet.

“crap! crap, crap, crap, crap!” Sans practically flew off his mattress, sheets and pillow flying everywhere. He was already a half-hour late. If he hurried he might be able to get there in time for some of it. Heh. As quickly as that thought surfaced he squashed it. Even if he made the next ferry ride, it’d be another forty five minutes.

“how’d i sleep through  _ all _ those alarms!?” he cursed as he speed-changed into clean clothes. He felt like beating his skull against a wall several thousand times. Alphys was going to be so disappointed. He should never have stayed as long as he had last night!

Suddenly he stopped and remembered how he’d gotten home. It had been an awful lot like those times he’d more or less skipped the stairs. He thought about what had been similar between each event. He’d just kinda imagined himself where he’d ended up. There could have been some register of magic involved, but he’d been too tired each time to really notice it if it  _ had _ been there...well...he had nothing to lose by trying. Maybe he could...reproduce it.

Sans closed his eye sockets and took a deep, slow breath. He pictured a room in the Lab that was typically empty. One he liked to hide out in when he needed time alone to think through a problem. He took a step forward. Opened his eyes.

Nothing.

He tried again, this time tuning into his magic. It was a fairly consistent hum now that he was better rested, but he could feel it warble occasionally nonetheless. Maybe that was the key. He’d been incredibly exhausted all those other times. It would stand to reason his magic had been all over the place. He focused on the disruptions in the pattern and pictured his empty room once more.

His next step connected his foot with the leg of a table. Ouch. He’d have work on precision.

Sans laughed to himself, feeling awe and relief wash over him. He had no idea what the deal was with this new weird ability, but he sure was grateful for it today. He’d have to play around with it later.

Right now he had a lizard to go cheer.

He dashed through the halls, breath coming in heaving gasps by the time he reached the large theatre in which the ceremony was to take place. He paused only a moment before cracking the door open.

Inside was what looked like the entire engineering and robotics departments, plus a good handful of scientists from all the other departments. Down in the center of the room was a very large, domineering figure, a large purple cloak draped over his tourist’s polo and a crown placed between two great horns. Beside him, looking about three shades paler than normal, was Alphys, studying the floor intently and wringing her hands together.

“Thank you all for coming, today! And now that our business is finished here, you may all return to your projects! May I ask that you all excuse Dr. Alphys as she accompanies me to the Castle? I have some things I need to discuss with her in private. How about one more big cheer for our new Royal Scientist!” the big figure twirled around to beam at all the scientists in the seats. Everyone clapped. Alphys could only tear her eyes from the floor fleetingly. She would rake her eyes across the sea of faces, searching, before returning to the safety of the floor. Sans’ soul sank. He’d missed it. He shuffled into the nearest seat as the other scientists began filing out of the theatre. Down below, King Asgore disappeared through a doorway. Alphys made one last attempt to scan the scattering crowd before timidly following the boss monster, hunched shoulders sagging just a little.

He didn’t know how long he sat there. Head in his hands. Silently fuming. How could he have been so irresponsible!? He should’ve left well enough alone and gone home early. Maybe then he wouldn’t have let two people down in one grand screw-up. By the time he finally rose and exited the theatre, the place had been long empty. He couldn’t even go find Alphys, now, if she was at the castle with Asgore. He’d have to wait an entire day to apologize to her. Sans briefly considered using the Undernet. But no; this was something he was going to have to do in person.

“geez, when’s this streak of bad luck going to end?” he mumbled as he shuffled through the halls.

He passed right by the entrance to the physics wings. Wasn’t worth it today. He was already late, and since he wasn’t technically scheduled for anything, there were no projects for him to work on. The Archives crossed his mind. Nah. That stupid place had been the whole cause of this disaster. After wandering around a little more, Sans finally gave up and left. He was starting to feel pretty tired again, anyway. Maybe he could just go take a nap.

Once he was outside, he tried to do what he’d done that morning again. He closed his eyes and pictured his house. Nothing doing. After a few fizzled attempts he threw his hands up and started stomping home. He’d have to explore it later, then.The walk would probably do him some good anyway. It’d be a chance to cool off before Papyrus saw him at least. Sans shoved his hands in his pockets and pointed his death glare at the ground in front of him. His fingers found the marble in his pocket and wrapped around it.

A couple blinks later, the caves around him seemed a little different. More washed out, maybe. And a little wavy and distorted. It seemed to flicker back and forth between normal and not. Kinda dizzying. Sans stopped and sat down, feeling nauseous. Was it the marble? Was it working again?

Almost as if in answer, He heard a scuffling noise coming up the tunnel in front of him. Gaster emerged from the shadows, flickering with the rest of the cavern and looking very forlorn indeed.

“what’s  _ your _ problem?” Sans asked tersely, unable to wipe the scowl from his face.

Gaster gestured to Sans in response before coming to sit beside him. He made a small sound, but it sounded like a mix between animal and glitch. He moved to pat Sans on the back. While Sans couldn’t actually feel anything, he still appreciated the sentiment. He felt some of his anger wash away.

“heh. thanks, g. ‘s’it okay if i call you that? sorry - i’m just not having the most stellar of days.”

Gaster’s only response was a sad little nod. But then he gave a small smile, gesturing to Sans’ pocket. Sans chuckled. Yeah, at least the marble was working again. Maybe not as well as before, but it was something.

“man, i just...really wanted to be the one, y’know? that job’s been my goal ever since i first heard about it. it was the whole reason i made that stupid machine.”  Sans hunched down, studying the ground as he rubbed the back of his neck vertebrae. “and now not only have i managed to miss the opportunity of getting the position of a lifetime, but i’ve managed to bust up the machine, bust up myself, and bust up my brother’s and my friend’s trust in me.”

Gaster grunted beside him.

”i’m beginning to wonder if it’s even possible to screw my life up any more than i already have...”  he continued. “i sure feel like i’ve broken a few records so far.”

He looked up at Gaster. The goopy man looked like he had a lot to say. He even opened his mouth for a moment, as if to launch into a big lecture. But he stopped short, shook his head and scowled in frustration. Sans shrugged, attempting a smile.

“either we gotta find a way to translate on the go, or i gotta learn that thing you do with your hands, man. otherwise your marble doesn’t do either of us much good. though,  _ tibia _ honest, even when we had that TV it was kinda hard to follow you!”

Gaster made a noise that echoed a groan. But he was smiling again. He gave him a look as if to say, “I’ve missed this,” and rose. Sans stood as well, laughing.

“i have a hunch i’d miss it too, if i remembered, doc. guess my  _ skull’s _ just a little  _ empty _ at the moment?”

That got another laugh from them both. Sans was starting feel a little less like it was the end of the world.

“welp,”  he said, rocking back and forth on his feet a couple times.  “i think i’m goin’ to grillby’s. i need something unhealthy right now. wanna tag along, or should i  _ let you go _ ?”  he winked as he held up the marble in his fingers questioningly. Gaster smiled and shook his head. They waved goodbye to each other as Sans dropped the marble back into his pocket. The cave around him reverted to its normal appearance. Sans took off in the direction of home, a little more energy and a little less anger in his step than before.

He couldn’t deny that he felt a bit better now.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> To quote Soos from Gravity Falls, "oh, sorry, dudes."
> 
> I caught up with myself and it's been a rough couple of weeks lately, so this one's maybe a little short. And probably a little messy. But here you go. More of my Undertale trash! :D
> 
> ~~~
> 
> This turned into something of a filler episode. Whoops.

“alph, i am so sorry!”

Sans burst through the door into the engineering commons room. Alphys looked up from her seat, looking very tired and more than a little overwhelmed.

“S-sans? You’re okay! I looked everywhere for you yesterday a-and when I didn’t see you I-I got really worried a-and- omigosh! You  _ did _ say you were going to be there, right? I wasn’t just imagining that?”

“alphys, i’m really sorry,”  Sans repeated as he plunked into the seat next to hers. “i was  _ definitely _ going to be there! and i tried to be there on time. i really did! but i stayed waaaay too late and then i accidentally set all my alarms for the evening instead of the morning.”

“O-oh, good; so I wasn’t imagining that…” she breathed looking thoroughly relieved. “What um...what made you stay so late?”

Sans let out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding. Of  _ course _ Alphys wouldn’t be  _ mad _ ! Which, if Sans was being honest with himself, wasn’t making him feel any better, really.

“i, uh...had some stuff i needed to catch up on and it took a lot longer than i thought it would. man, i’m sorry. i really tried to be there. i came in just as you and asgore left. how can i make it up to you?”

“Oh, Sans! N-no! There’s no need to m-make it up to me! I  _ completely _ understand! I, uh...was almost late to work this m-morning myself! I’ve, ummm...had a lot to think about lately…”

“really? what does asgore want you to do? or is that too classified to share with us groundlings?”  Sans grinned, feeling a mix of relief and fresh guilt. He’d have to at least get her lunch or something.

Alphys giggled. Then she fell silent. Finally she said, “He, uh...he asked me t-to research the Barrier. He said he’d give me all the resources I needed. B-but I don’t even know where to  _ start _ ! How do you take on such a big project!? I k-kinda wish I hadn’t b-been appointed, now...w-what if I mess up!?”

Sans’ mind was whirling. The  _ Barrier _ !? Seriously!? That sounded like a  _ huge _ project! The Barrier was the strongest magical construct in the entire Underground. No monster could get through it. It would theoretically take a soul as strong as every monster in the Underground combined to break through that thing! And even  _ that _ might not be enough. Everyone knew that, scientist or no. And now Alphys was supposed to figure out how to break it?

“dude...that’s- wow...but if even asgore can’t break through that thing, what makes him think there’s even a way?”

Alphys briefly glanced around them. All the other scientists in the room were gossiping or eating lunch or doing normal sciency things. No one was paying attention to them. She leaned close to Sans and spoke in an undertone.

“Souls.”

“...what?”

“Asgore said souls were the key.  _ That’s _ why he was so impressed with...with Mettaton. He thinks if I can make a...a r-robot with a soul, I can figure out how to make a soul strong enough to break the Barrier. One that...one that’s as strong as a human’s…”

“a human soul? why a human soul?” Before Sans had even finished speaking the last dream he’d had came to mind. Suddenly, things started clicking into place.

“Asgore told me that when he lived on the Surface, he used to come across  _ children _ that were stronger than him. A monster soul can be strong, but...a human soul can be  _ dangerous _ ...He said they’re so powerful that if we had even one, we could do so much more. I-if we could make an artificial soul as strong as a human’s, we m-might stand a chance!”

“but the barrier was made by seven humans, wasn’t it?”

“If we can make one soul, then we can make six more. And that’s all p-provided no actual humans come down…”

Right. The king’s decree. It had been several years since the royal family had lost both its children in one day. But that day had been a huge blow to the entire Underground. Asgore had declared war on the human race and had sent out a decree that any human that fell down would be taken directly to Asgore. He would collect the souls and when he had enough, he would fuse with them and destroy the Barrier. The new policy had come as a shock to everyone. Asgore was so kind and loving to everyone around him. It was hard to imagine him - even as strong as he was - actually taking the soul of another. Thing’s had been a little uneasy since then, but no humans had ever been spotted. So there was a sort of tense hope. Sans found it hard to believe. The only Asgore he’d known was a loveable man. He could only imagine what it must have been like to be around when Asgore was actually angry enough to make such a decree. He'd been glad Snowdin was so far from New Home. All he'd gotten was the official letter in his mailbox.

“...so he asked you to take on this project as royal scientist because you’ve already created an artificial soul! alphys that’s...amazing!”

Alphys looked away, bearing a slightly strained smile. “Yeah…” she said quietly. “I guess it is, isn’t it…”

~

Sans came home to an empty house. As wiped as he felt, today was the day he had time to go over that folder, finally. He grabbed a glass of milk and a sandwich on his way up to retrieve it.

He stuffed the sandwich in his mouth as he reached for the folder. The moment his fingers brushed the worn manilla, everything around him flickered for a moment. Were the lights going out? No. When lights went out, your surroundings got darker, not replaced. Sans dropped his glass of milk and the folder, startled. The flickering stopped. He stood there, in shock, watching his milk spread and seep into the already stained carpet.

Was he ever going to get used to this?

Sans shook his head abruptly. He blinked a few times. Picked up the empty glass. So much for a healthy beverage. He gingerly picked up the folder again. There was one more flicker or two, but then it stopped. Sans frantically held on to what little fragments of the mental picture he still had. But it was too late. The image was gone. All that he could really gather from it was a haze of warm light. Whatever place he had unsuccessfully been transported to this time, he was certain it had felt big. Well, couldn’t keep worrying about it now. He swallowed the rest of his sandwich and headed down to the lab, the folder under his arm.

An hour in, and he had made it through the first half of page one. He was starting to feel a little humbled. Perhaps he wasn’t as much a pro at reading these things as he’d originally thought. The blueprints definitely had fewer words to decipher on it than this dumb thing. Still the information he’d gleaned...actually wasn’t terribly promising either. Still no mention of a W. D. Gaster, and mostly just a summary of the position’s responsibilities. Sans flipped the page. Maybe the first one was just a precursor to the juicy stuff.

This one looked a little more promising. It looked like someone’s personal file. Like the ones Sans had to fill out once a year to stay updated in the Labs’ systems. There was no picture attached, but there was a tear in the top corner of the page, near the space for the photo. So perhaps there must have been one in here at one time. Sans started trudging through the print. He did a little fist pump when he made it through “NAME: W. D. GASTER.”

“looks like i’ve hit it big here! guy really does exist. whaddya know? at least now i don’t have to worry about being committed.”

Sans read on. From what he could crack right off the bat, Gaster had been an employee at the Royal Laboratories for only a few years at the time the file was filled out, and in that short amount of time he had risen from research assistant in the pharmaceutical lab to leader of several pretty large teams and head of the CORE construction department. Quite the brain, then. At the bottom of the file, it looked like his most recent promotion was to Royal Scientist, effective immediately.

“whoa, man. you really kicked it into high gear, didn’t ya? no stops along the way, hunh? so how come you’re not around anymore if you’re so brilliant?”

Sans flipped to the next page. A minute of overheating his brain finally yielded the title: “ON THE TOPIC OF THE CORE. ENTRY NUMBER 1.”

The rest of the page was filled with symbols. Tiny symbols.

“what, no pictures, doc? that’s pretty boring. unless you count this code as ‘pictures.’ then i guess you’d be the most interesting dude on the planet - there’s no way i’m gonna be able to get through all this tonight…”

Sans’ vision was already blurring a little just taking in all the hard work he was going to have to put in for this. He was going to have to make a key if he wanted to get through this easier. He grabbed his blueprints from the drawer he’d shoved them in after his latest frustrating “dance” with the machine, and began copying the symbols he knew and their counterparts down on a blank piece of paper. Okay, now he had a decent portion of the alphabet. Hopefully now he could figure out the ones that hadn’t been on the blueprints. Sans decided he’d congratulate himself and grab Grillby’s if he could at least finish the key. This was a lot harder without pictures or diagrams.

About an hour later, after having sluggishly, spottily, painstakingly deciphered about half the page, Sans sat back with a finished key, and the vague impression that the entry was more or less just a stream of conscious hypothesis-dump. Cool. It was time for a burger.

“you sure don’t make this easy, g,” he muttered as he climbed down from the stool and and smoothed his jacket. he closed the folder and for an instant, thought he saw that big golden place again. But it was gone before he could process it. He briefly thought about reaching for the marble in his pocket. Nah. He’d had enough puzzles to solve for one day. No guarantee it’d work anyway. Sans hit the lights and yawned as he started in the direction the grill and bar. It was a good thing it wasn’t too far. Not that anything in this town was too far.

“heya, grillbz!” Sans called as he shuffled through the door and made his way back to his usual spot.  “long time no  _ sear _ !”

The flaming bartender didn’t answer at first. He continued stacking clean glasses on the shelf behind the bar. The only indication for a while was a slight nod in Sans’ direction. When he finally turned around, he adjusted his glasses and leaned on the counter.

“Hello, Sans. What’ll it be tonight?”

“can i get a burger with everything on it and a side order of fries? i’m  _ all hollow inside _ .”

“Sure thing. That’s going to be 10G. Do you want to pay up front or after today?” Grillby answered in his signature 2 decibel tone.

Sans dug around for his wallet.

“i’ll go ahead and pay now. thanks.”

Grillby took the money and disappeared in the back. Sans looked around him. The other patrons of the bar consisted of the Snowdrake family in one of the booths, and a pair of pups - must be new recruits for the Royal Guard or something. Sans turned away from them, deciding he’d rather stare at his hands than at them making googly eyes at each other.

Before long, the bartender returned with his order.

“There you go, Sans,” he practically whispered, setting down an extra bottle of ketchup and returning to his previous task. For being the sole operator of the place, Grillby sure seemed to have no problems running Snowdin’s number one food joint. Like, ever. Nothing fazed that guy. That was probably why Sans liked coming here so much. Good food. Good company. Good bartender. Sans dug in.

“Haven’t seen you in awhile,” he said as he began wiping the last glass. “You’re looking tired today,” Perceptive as always.

Sans shrugged, popping another fry into his mouth.

“eh, well…i’ve been pretty busy lately. lotsa things going on. heh. i feel like the walking dead right now.”

Grillby continued wiping his glass. “What’s been keeping you up?” he asked, sounding as uninterested as ever.

“oh, y’know...science-y things...i went back to work. so maybe i’ll be able to be your best regular again, now that my schedule’s not so messed up.”

“Maybe,” he replied. “But science never used to make you look so awful. What are you doing different?”

How much exactly could Sans say without coming off as either the biggest nutjob or the biggest loser in the Underground?

“oh well, i figured i’d try something new. but while this past month has been very fun, i think i’ve decided i’ll stick to the science i’m familiar with from now on. it was surprisingly...time...consuming. Wore me out real fast.”

“Well, hopefully you’ll take better care of yourself now.”

Sans grinned and winked.  “oh, you know i will! i aim to never do that again!”

“Somehow, I have a hard time believing you will. Just remember. You can’t run on empty all the time.”

“i’ll do my best to absorb your profound wisdom, o wise one,” he joked.

Grillby went to bus the Snowdrakes’ table while Sans polished off the last of his fries. He finished just as the bartender returned to his glass-wiping and hopped down from the bar, wiping his mouth on his sleeve.

“thanks, man. i needed some good ol’ fashioned grease in my system. anything else has been going  _ right through me _ !”

Grillby put his glass on the shelf and waved to Sans. “Until next time, then. And Sans? Get some sleep.”

Sans laughed.  “i’ll try.”

~

The Lab materialised in front of Sans in an instant. Score! Where to next?

He thought for a moment. He hadn’t tried anywhere in New Home yet. Of course, he also wasn’t terribly familiar with it. He wracked his brain for a specific place to go. The only thing that surfaced was a tiny pizza place he’d been to once or twice when he was younger. He could  _ kind _ of remember what it looked like. Or, at least what it looked like ten years ago.

Sans closed his eyes and tuned into his magic again. He found the little warbles and latched onto them. They were like a steady pulse, now that he’d been able to get some sleep. He took a step and felt the world around him shift. It was a strange feeling, but it was starting to become a little familiar. He waited for the equally strange feeling of popping up in a new place, but it didn’t come.

Sans opened his eyes.

Okay, maybe that was a mistake.

He whipped his head around in a panic. Everything around him was black. Just like the void. This was definitely  _ not _ a pizza place in New Home. His mind raced, thoughts tumbling over each other as he fought to keep his breathing calm and even. He had to think about this scientifically. If he could approach the problem logically, he could come up with a solution. What had gone wrong this time? Up until now today, the only hiccup he’d run into while getting a feel for this new trick had literally been a wall. And he’d learned how to correct that pretty quickly. It had mostly been a matter of picturing the spot he wanted to land in more precisely. What had he done differently this time?

... _ Of course _ !

He couldn’t remember where exactly the pizza place was or what it looked like clearly enough! His “shortcuts” had worked the best when he was trying to get to a place he could picture perfectly.

Hopefully doing just that could get him out of here.

He closed his eyes again. Not that that made any difference. Pictured his own lab. Took a step.

To his great relief, Sans felt the world weave itself back together around him. He opened his eyes and collapsed on the floor, letting out a breath he’d forgotten he was holding. He looked around his lab, even at that bloody machine, still sitting broken in the corner, with a newfound appreciation.

“okay, note to self,” he muttered as he flopped onto his back and studied the patterns in the ceiling.  “walk to the place before trying the shortcut way.”

Well, now he knew what to do on his lunch breaks.

Still, Sans smiled. This must have come from his trip in the machine or something. And especially given his significantly lower stamina nowadays...he supposed this was at least a  _ half _ -decent compensation. Could come in handy. Who knew? And it could certainly make his dodging training easier. Granted, Sans was still only “dodging” a dummy.

Perhaps if he showed Pap his new trick, he’d be able to graduate to a moving opponent.

Sans teleported to his room, suppressing the urge to run and tell Papyrus about his newfound ability.

Good thing his next training was tomorrow.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finally. Sorry this took so long. It's a struggle sometimes. XD Anyway, enjoy. I'm kinda thinking there won't be TOO many more chapters in this part of the series. We'll see.
> 
> ~~~
> 
> Sans is tired. REALLY tired.

“Come over here and take a look at this for a moment, won’t you?”

“sure thing, doc.”

Sans opened his eyes to take in the familiar scene with a groan. He’d been having this same dream for the past two weeks, now. And it was getting pretty old.

Dr. Gaster stood hunched over a desk, pouring over a mess of papers. Other Sans was sitting at a nearby desk, leaned back in his chair and playing with a piece of string. He kicked off of the desk and came rolling over to where the doctor was.

“whatcha see, g?”

Dr. Gaster pointed to a spot on one of the charts.

“See that?” He said, fixing Other Sans with a frustrated stare. “That’s the last time we were able to get any significant results from our SAVE-RESET tests. Now see this?”

This time he ran his finger along the rest of the line.

“It’s been 80  _ days _ since we were able to make it spike like that! I don’t understand why we haven’t been able to get the same results since then. We’ve been  _ exactly _ reproducing the test each time, and yet the results get weaker and weaker!”

Other Sans took a spin in his chair, clearly thinking hard.

“could it just be that the sample’s deteriorating? i mean,  _ you’re _ the biology expert, not me, but organic things tend to decay over time, don’t they?”

“Perhaps…” came the tentative reply. “I suppose it is true that the bacteria and cell counts in the sample have been decreasing. But every time I check the Determination levels, they’re still the same. Do you really think it could affect the way the Determination works?”

“beats me, man,”  Other Sans shrugged.  “you know more about all that medicine and culture-stuff than i ever will. ‘s’just a thought.”

Dr. Gaster rubbed his chin, thoughtfully. “You may be onto something, Sans. It’d be ideal if we had a sample from another human - or better yet the whole soul to work with - but the best we can do for now is to draw another sample from the child. I’m meeting with the king tomorrow afternoon. I can talk to the human then. I’m sure they’ll be more than willing to donate again.”

Sans blinked sleepily. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if these were like normal dreams. But these “Gaster dreams” were always really draining for some reason. Almost like he was living through them instead of just imagining them. Which, given the nature of them, might not actually be far off the mark.

Other Sans drew him out of his stupor by walking straight through him.

“welp, that’s cool. while you do that, i think i’ll take a well-deserved break. no offense, g, but being cooped up down here with nobody but you for three days straight is cruel and unusual punishment,” he winked.

Dr. Gaster shot a smirk in his direction.

“I’m sorry you feel that way about me, but at least  _ I’ve  _ had the decency to shower these past three days!”

“hey, that’s a low blow. i take my showering very seriously - can’t just suds up anywhere! i’m a skeleton with standards after all!”

“You know...having actually  _ used _ them, I can assure you that the Royal Laboratories offers only the best in soapy experiences.” This time it was the doctor who winked.

“heh. i  _ soap _ you’re not just saying that to get me to go in there. ‘s’not gonna work!”

“Well,  _ I  _ ‘soap’ you slip and fall next time you shower.”

“always the endearing one, aren’tcha?” Other Sans grinned wickedly.  “anyway, are we done here? can i go now? my bro hasn’t had his bedtime story in three days and i imagine he’s gettin’ pretty cranky.”

Dr. Gaster laughed.

“You’re free to go. We won’t do anything more until I’ve obtained a second sample from the child. I’ll let you know when I have it.”

Other Sans saluted and left, leaving Dr. Gaster to return to his papers.

Sans knew what came next. It was mostly just staring at the doctor who would spend the rest of the dream staring at the papers, occasionally muttering to himself until Sans woke up. Sans wouldn’t have minded it if he could at least fall asleep. But given that he was kind of already asleep, that wasn’t really an option. It would essentially feel like he’d pulled an all-nighter in the morning. Which would suck. Again.

Well, might as well make the best of it. Sans settled himself into the rolling chair still parked by the doctor and closed his eye sockets. He could at least  _ pretend _ to get some rest.

“whatever it is you’re trying to tell me with this one, doc, it’s not here,”  he muttered quietly. Not that Dream Gaster would be able to hear him or anything.  “might wanna try switching tactics. or, y’know...you could bother to show up.”

This particular scene had yet to see the goopy version of the scientist. Perhaps that was why it hadn’t been going anywhere?

...Unless it was because  _ Sans _ hadn’t bothered to go anywhere.

He eased himself out of the chair and stretched. Hm...where to explore? He supposed he had an entire building he could roam.

“if I were a half-crazed, half-melted scientist, where would i be hiding?”

Sans wandered the halls, leaving the doctor to stew over his charts. Whether it was because it was a dream or something else entirely, he wasn’t sure, but they did have a familiar feel to them, the way they twisted and turned and forked. He peered into doorways whenever he came to them; sometimes the rooms were illuminated by bright fluorescence. Others were dark. All of them were empty.

“happenin’ place…” he mumbled through his teeth as he ducked out of yet another empty work room. He about-faced right into someone. Sans fell back on his tailbone in surprise.

“ugh,  _ finally _ ! i was beginning to think you’d never turn up!” Sans grinned, as Gaster helped him up. Gaster grinned just as wide, excitement lighting his eyes! He pulled Sans by the wrist down another hall and into a janitor closet, brandishing a pair of batteries in his other hand, and making all sorts of noises along the way.

“really? a broom closet? what is this, a high school? look, man, i’m flattered, but i’m not-”

Sans stopped mid-joke. Gaster wasn’t listening anyway. Instead, the scientist was fiddling with what looked like a radio. He inserted the batteries and started slowly turning through the channels, periodically making noises. Sans remained quiet.

Finally, he found a channel.

“Hello, hello, he- OH! There we are! Haha! Finally! I haven’t been able to get the marble to work nearly as well since that first time, especially with you wandering all over the place lately.” Sans absently felt for the glass ball in his pocket. Did that mean it worked best in certain places? “But I figured maybe I could make it work in a dreamscape just as well. Turns out you still have to make sure your tools are in  _ working order _ before anything happens- look, Sans! It works!”

Gaster held the radio up, looking pleased. The radio was set to channel 66.

“Just... don’t wake up yet, okay?”

“no promises, doc. no offense but i’ve been having this dream for, like, two weeks, and i’m gettin’ kinda  _ tired _ of it.”

“Ah, yes, sorry. That is entirely my fault. Things often require more than one test after all. And between trying to find batteries and  _ creating _ them in this place, it’s been a bit of a challenge.”

Gaster led the way out of the closet; Sans followed him back to the original room. Doctor Gaster was still pouring over his notes, frantically searching for the answer he needed.

“There we are- well, I suppose it’s just me, now. It looks like you’ve already left. Sorry. You can blame me for keeping you here. I’ve been searching all over for another medium to use with the marble in this dream. In the end I had to construct the radio myself. I didn’t mean to keep you stuck in this one for so long.” Gaster was beginning to tumble over his words again. But at least he could speak again. He hadn’t managed that for more than two months now. Sans shrugged.

“s’alright, g. just...feel free to lay off for a while, eh? i’m startin’ to feel pretty drained.”

“Yes, I was afraid of that. Once again, I’m terribly sorry - that’s probably my fault as well.”

Sans shrugged again. Couldn’t really stay mad at someone who was this desperate to just talk to someone. Then, he remembered something.

“hey, g. i have a question for ya since we seem to have established communication again. i found a folder about you in the lab’s archives. it’s in this really weird code. what the heck’s that all about?”

“Ah, yes, that. Right. Yes. You must have somehow found my personal file. How it managed to survive is beyond me. I’ve seen a lot of things, but the more I see the less I realize I know. How are you getting on with it? I hope it’s not too difficult. I rather liked keeping my thoughts more or less to myself until I was ready to share them with others. You, on the other hand, believed wholeheartedly in sharing, I remember! Before I could even catch on, you’d figured it out and read all my personal documents. Haha! It’s funny, now. At the time I was quite perturbed, yes, but thinking back, I find it rather hilarious, actually.”

“okay, well, it’s a lot harder to figure out this time around, then, i guess? i’ve been frying my brain trying to decode that thing. and i’ll be honest- i still don’t exactly know what the whole deal is with you. what happened to you? why aren’t you…like  _ that _ ...”  Sans gestured to the oblivious, mumbling doctor still stooped over the table. “anymore?”

Gaster didn’t say anything at first. He inhaled sharply, as if about to launch into another long run-on, but stopped himself.

“Well I- hmm...it’s a rather long story, Sans. I’m not surprised you’re confused. You were supposed to remember, but...oh dear. We really are starting from square one, aren’t we?”

Gaster looked down at the tiled floor, his brow furrowed in frustration.

He looked up suddenly. “I suppose if you keep having these dreams, though, perhaps it’ll all come back to you. After all, for the most part, they aren’t, strictly speaking,  _ dreams _ .”

“they’re not?”  Sans felt stupid for asking halfway through the first word.

“Of course they’re not! I don’t know how, exactly, but by some miracle when you came to visit me in the void, it was almost as if...it was almost as if a cap was taken off. Now things are starting to trickle through. You’re starting to remember, whether you recognize it or not.”

Sans took a moment to process this. Logically speaking, he supposed it should only make sense. But lately everything that had been happening to him hadn’t really been all that logical. He could easily chalk up most of his interactions with Gaster to delusion. But even that couldn’t possibly explain how he was now able to pop up anywhere in the Underground in the blink of an eye. Should he trust this? Or was it all a projection of a now constantly exhausted mind?

He thought about his marble. He thought about the folder in his lab. Those were real enough, right? And it was hard to argue with the shocked expression on that one kid’s face when he’d suddenly appeared in the swing next to them on that New Home playground the other day. He chuckled a little at the memory.

“okay…”  he finally said. “but what i don’t get is why i can’t remember all this stuff already. i dunno for sure yet, but so far it looks to me like i’m missing a lot of important stuff here.”

“That’s something I’ve been pondering ever since I- ever since I found the void. Though given the fact that I have nothing with me to test them, all I have are hypotheses. You would actually be a great help in figuring it out I suspect. After all, it was you who made most of the breakthroughs when it came to the continuum.”

“the continuum? i did? wait, what?”

“Oh dear, I’m sorry. I’m getting ahead again aren’t I? My sincerest apologies. I am so used to us being on the same page. I keep forgetting that we are no longer, it would seem.”

“look, g, i dunno if it’s just from spending so much time alone or whatever, but you’re real bad at answering my questions straight. you’re not a _ void _ ing them, are you?” Sans was getting pretty tired of this.

Gaster froze.

“Oh...oh dear...you’re right. Goodness me, I- I suppose I’ve quite forgotten how to talk to people. I do apologize. But I will tell you this: I don’t think we have the time tonight to go into everything. As it is, you’ll probably be waking up before too long. And besides...there are things that- there are things that I would prefer you came to remember on your own. At the rate things are going, it’ll probably all come back to you. Keep at that file for one thing, and...keep looking for me here. I try my best to reach you in the waking world, too. But for now...”

He fumbled with his hands for a moment. Sans’ patience was wearing thin, but he took a breath and waited. After all, this must be very hard.

Finally, he said, “I  _ can _ tell you this much for now: you and I were going to explore  _ universes _ together with the research we were doing. But then I...I made some mistakes and now I’m paying for them. I don’t know why exactly I am the way I am and you the way you are now. But my advice to you is to stay off of that machine from now on. It’s only brought us trouble.”

“us?”

“Yes. Us. What I’m trying to say is...I suppose...don’t provoke forces that are greater than you. You mess with power and it seems to have the tendency to come back to bite you. Curiosity is wonderful, but it can lead to terrible things if you are irresponsible or overzealous. Be careful. Please.”

“okay…” Cryptic as ever, but Sans was beginning to get the feeling this guy had a lot of baggage. And the scientist was right. At the rate things were going, Sans would see it all eventually. He would simply have to wait.

~

Sans woke up feeling like he’d been dragged by his ankles across the Underground. Well, hopefully finally making contact last night meant that he’d stop having that blasted dream. Perhaps he could get some real sleep for a couple days. Not that it would make a huge difference.

These days, he ran out of energy before he even rolled off his mattress. He could still vaguely remember a time when getting up in the mornings didn’t feel like a death march, but they were so long ago. How long had it been since his tango with the machine? It must be nearly three months. He’d been back to the doctor recently. No luck there. His health was as low as ever, with no signs of improvement. And with these dreams, he felt like he spent more nights awake than asleep. It wasn’t doing wonders for his performance at work.

At least his dodging was getting better. Ever since he’d shown Papyrus his new trick, he’d graduating to having one-sided snowball fights and basically playing tag with his little brother. Except his little brother was always “it.”

As Sans lay there, an arm slung over his face, he became aware of a muffled knocking.

Crap. That must be the door.

He groaned and slithered out from under his sheets, grabbing the nearest tee shirt from off the floor on his way out of the room. He really needed to tidy up in here before long. He pulled the shirt on and teleported to the front door.

“H-heya, Sans! Whoa! Hehe! Good m-morning sleepy head! Did I...did I w-wake you?”

“heya, alph. nah, i’ve been up,” he lied, rubbing an eye socket.

The yellow lizard shot him a rueful smile as he joined her outside in the snow.

“th’lab’s around back. c’mon.”

“Have you had m-much of a chance to, uh, to work on it lately?”

“nope. not really. i’ve been pretty zapped the past while. heck, you takin’ a look at it will probably be the most work i’ve put into it in at least three weeks!”

They reached the lab door and Sans held it open for Alphys. He flipped on the lights behind her and gestured across the space.

“there she is. pretty beat up, hunh?”

Alphys didn’t say anything. Only moved closer to inspect the mass of twisted metal, already in her “zone.”

She looked over the hull, then stepped inside.Sans could hear shuffling and mumbling. Sans decided to take a stool and wait for her. No sense standing wasting strength when he could be sitting, he supposed.

A few minutes later, she came out and squirmed under the machine.

“Can you hand me a flashlight and a screwdriver? I need to take this panel off.”

Sans obliged, returned to his stool and let his mind wander as Alphys worked.

The worst thing about that dream was he was pretty sure he hadn’t even really learned anything useful from it. So he’d supposedly been researching souls and stuff with Dr. Gaster. He could’ve gathered that from the previous dreams he’d had. Gaster had said something about exploring universes? Sounded like a lot of work. Sans sighed and closed his eyes.

Whatever had happened to the guy, clearly it had changed something in “the continuum” as he’d put it. Sans didn’t have a lot of experience with “the continuum” - or at least not a lot that he could remember - but the scientist  _ had _ mentioned the machine. Which if he was connected to the machine in some way, then that could explain the symbols on the blueprints.

But if Gaster had been wiped out of the world, so to speak, why would the blueprints and the file be left behind? That didn’t make much sense when literally  _ everything else _ that could’ve alluded to his existence seemed to have also disappeared...like the Lab’s lower levels…

“alph?”  Sans opened his eyes and looked at the tail poking out from under the machine. “have you ever explored the lab much?”

Alphys emerged from under the machine, rubbing a smudge from her snout.

“Um, not a whole lot. W-why do you ask?”

“oh, just wondering. i realized the other day that i haven’t explored as much of that place as i’ve wanted to.”

“W-well...you could always explore during your lunch breaks instead of running off like you do these days. I c-could even come with you! I mean- only i-if you w-wanted me to. T-there’s a lot about that building that I w-wish I knew better, too.”

“yeah, i’d be down for that. remind me to tell ya when i go exploring then. it’ll be cool! we could be like...explorer buddies...or something.” Sans grinned. Alphys smiled back.

Alphys disappeared again under the machine. Sans closed his eyes again. He was gonna have to try and find that other lab if he wanted to at least accelerate this “remembering” process.

“how’s your research, by the way? i feel like i haven’t seen you much since you started.”

“W-well, y’know...I’ve been b-busy. It...keeps me busy…”

Sans waited for her to elaborate. When she didn’t, he let his mind wander again. It was all the same to him. He was so tired right now that he probably wouldn’t be able to follow her if she did anyway. He sighed again, taking in the blissful quiet. Nothing had ever felt more comfortable than this stool at this moment.

What felt like a moment later, He felt a hand gripping his shoulder ever-so-gently. He jerked awake.

“S-sans? W-wow, that’s impressive! H-have you been asleep this whole time? Um...I’ve done all I can t-today. S-sorry it’s not much. But, um...i-if you want I can come back.”

Sans blinked at Alphys sleepily. Wow, he was really tired. Too bad he had dodging practice with Paps today, otherwise he’d be more than happy to just sleep the rest of the day away.

“oh, sorry, alphys. i, uh, didn’t get much sleep last night. ‘m a little out of it. but yeah, if you wanna come back this time next week, you can.”

“Um, okay. Y-you ought to get some more sleep in the meantime. You l-look like you haven’t slept in days!”

“welp, can’t argue with that.”

“Omigosh, you’re kidding...r-right? Please tell me you’ve s-slept!”

“i have, it’s just…i haven’t very well is all.” Sans did  _ not _ have the energy to explain it all right now. He hopped down from his stool and led the way out of the lab.

“W-well...you, um, should maybe sleep some more then??? Sorry- I don’t mean to tell you what to do, but...if you don’t s-sleep, you’re gonna m-make yourself sick!”

Sans turned, raising a pointed finger to the cavern ceiling.  “and how right you are! ‘s’just too bad i have to practice with papyrus today.”

“Practice? Practice for w-what?”

Sans stopped in his tracks. Right. He hadn’t actually  _ told _ her hardly anything.

“oh, heh. i guess i forgot to tell you that ever since i got sick, i’ve only had, like, 7 stats of everything. ATK, DEF, HP, you name it. so uh, paps is training me in the ancient art of ‘dodging...’ y’know...just...in case…”

Alphys brought a hand to her mouth as she gasped. “O-oh, Sans! I’m so sorry! T-that must have been a r-really bad illness!”

Sans only shrugged. Why tell her it was because of the machine? If anything, it would discourage her from coming back to help fix it. Plus anyway. His story was kind of on the loony side. Perhaps it’d be best to keep it to as few people as possible. Especially since there were things about it that Sans himself still didn’t understand.

They said their goodbyes and Alphys headed off in the direction of the Snowdin Ferry. No time for a nap. Papyrus would be back from his early morning shift in Hotland before long. Sans decided to return to his lab and took his place on the stool once more. He pulled the folder out of its newly designated drawer. Flipped it open to the first entry and ran his gaze down the page.

“gaster, i don’t mean to complain, but i can’t help but feel like you’re trying to become my new favorite hobby.” He pulled out the key and decided to get to work.

_ ON THE TOPIC OF THE CORE. ENTRY NUMBER 1 _

_ I have officially been appointed as the first Royal Scientist this week. It is an honor, but I would not be surprised to find out he created this new position with me specifically in mind. King Asgore has charged me with the task of bringing my proposition for a sustainable power source for the Underground into reality. This shall be the first of many entries regarding the progress of the Converter of Ostensibly Recyclable Energy, or “CORE” for short. _

Yeah, yeah, blah blah blah. Sans had more or less read most of this page when he was creating his key. He quickly skimmed through the problems and hypotheses and design details to the point he’d stopped at last time.

_ First thing’s first. I am going to need some private space for my research. I have a very good feeling about my hypothesis on using the energy from a human soul to at least jumpstart the process. But I have seen the power of humans firsthand. It could be dangerous material to work with. We don’t even fully know what it is that makes a human being so powerful; what makes their souls able to persist after death. I have some ideas, but I would need something to confirm them. A sample at least. _

_ For now, the best I can do is start on the fundamental aspects of the project. It will need to be massive if it’s going to support the whole Underground. Structurally sound of course. If we situate it in Hotland, it will be near enough to the Laboratories to maintain it and we can incorporate the natural geothermal energy. That will be immensely helpful. It will have to… _

Ugh more of the same stuff. Sans’ eye sockets were beginning to close on their own now. He moved to close the folder when something caught his eye. Intrigued, he decided to keep reading.

_ And of course, I am going to need at least one assistant. Someone who has enthusiasm for the unknown to match my own. They must be able to keep an open mind, with inexhaustible persistence. Someone who can come up with a new solution each time the old one doesn’t work. I’ve actually had my eye on one particular employee here. He is a hard worker, with a good attitude and an eye for calculation. He started work here only about two weeks ago, but in that short amount of time he has proven himself to be a brilliant theorist. If I am remembering correctly his name is Sans. _

_ I intend to seek him out and offer him the position of my assistant. If he accepts, I have a feeling we will be able to achieve great things together. He reminds of myself when I first started here. Optimistic, and brimming with new ideas. His sense of humor leaves something to be desired, but I think I can live with that. What is important is that he strikes me as one who doesn’t give up easily. I am going to need that if I want to see this and other subsequent plans realized. _

Sans sat back for a moment, rubbing the back of his skull. He had a strange feeling in the pit of his soul. It was somewhere between butterflies and falling forty-plus feet.

So his dreams were real. It had all really happened. He couldn’t deny it anymore. Then why didn’t he remember any of it? It was like it had never happened. But it  _ had _ .

Sans looked at the time. Okay. Time to stop. Papyrus was probably going to be coming in soon, and Sans still needed to get ready for training. He looked himself over, inspecting a stain on the shorts he’d slept in the past two nights.

...Well, actually for the whole day.

~

“SANS, PAY ATTENTION, YOU BONEHEAD!”

“heh. good one, bro.”

“THAT WASN’T MEANT TO BE FUNNY, YOU KNOW.”

Papyrus threw another snowball at Sans. Sans didn’t even try to dodge this one. It landed with a splat on the front of his jacket. He looked down at it and laughed. Wait. Why was he laughing? He couldn’t remember. Or think very straight.

“hey, paps, can we-”

Another snowball hit him in square in the chest, this time with enough force to knock him off his feet.

“oof. geez, paps, not so hard! look, it’s clear i’m not really feelin’ it today, and you’re just getting mad.”

“AM NOT! THE GREAT PAPYRUS NEVER GETS MAD!”

“bro, you just swung hard enough to knock me over. and while it may not take that much force to get me to the ground these days, you certainly didn’t start out throwin’ ‘em that hard.”

“...OKAY. SO MAYBE I AM A LITTLE BIT  _ ANNOYED _ . BUT CAN YOU AT LEAST DODGE  _ ONE MORE _ ?”

Sans got up and brushed himself off. He spread his arms wide, looking at his brother expectantly. Papyrus’ face lit up.

He scooped up a snowball and threw it with trained precision. Sans took a step to the right, then teleported three paces to the left.

“AH, THERE HE IS! I KNEW YOU COULD DO IT! NICE MOVE, BROTHER!”

“thanks. i’d like to say i try, but…’m pretty sure my shortcuts technically count as cheating.”

“OH NONSENSE! IF IT KEEPS YOU ALIVE…”

Sans cut him off with a laugh before Papyrus could think too hard about it. If he let him entertain those kinds of thoughts too long, it usually meant at least a day before Papyrus returned to his usual, chipper self.

“LET’S GO, THEN; IF WE DON’T HURRY BACK, I’LL BE LATE FOR MY EVENING SHIFT.”

“geez, an evening shift, too!? you’re really workin’ yourself down to the  _ bone  _ this week! why all the hours?”

Papyrus grimaced as they started walking in the direction of home. “IT’S HARDLY DIFFICULT. YOU’D UNDERSTAND IF YOU DIDN’T TAKE SUCH LONG NAPS.”

Sans chuckled.

“ANYWAY, UNDYNE SAYS I’M DOING REALLY WELL. SHE TOLD ME JUST YESTERDAY THAT I MIGHT EVEN BE ABLE TO GRADUATE THE TRAINEE PROGRAM BEFORE THE END OF THE YEAR! IMAGINE! ‘PAPYRUS, THE SENTRY!’ HAS A NICE RING TO IT. WELL, NOT AS NICE AS ‘ROYAL GUARDSMAN PAPYRUS,’ BUT I CAN SETTLE FOR SECOND-BEST FOR THE TIME BEING.”

Ah, Papyrus. Ever the optimist. Good thing, too, because Sans was beginning to notice how very little patience he had for the way of things these days. The machine was still busted,  _ Sans _ was still busted, and he was tired all the time now, whether he’d had a “Gaster Dream” or not. His concentration levels at work were beginning to count against him too. If he wasn’t careful he was going to get demoted. Or worse, even. He’d already been late three days in the past two weeks thanks to that dumb dream. He was beginning to lose favor with his overseers. Heh. Good thing for a hefty savings account. At the very least that would pay the bills if it came to…

Best not think about that. Papyrus dropped him off on the doorstep and Sans went inside and teleported straight to his mattress. He was going to sleep until he was good and ready to be awake. And no one was going to stop him this time.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wow, what a ride! Thanks to those who have left such wonderful comments! It's really encouraging to know that at least a few people like reading this thing as much as I like writing it! Be on the lookout for Part 2 of this series, wherein more shenanigans will ensue! :3 It may be a while, since I need to make sure I get a good feel for how it needs to go before I start posting it, but hopefully I won't have to keep you guys waiting for too long! Until then, I love you all for taking some time out of your days to read my drivel! :D
> 
> <3 carrot-cat17
> 
> ~~~
> 
> Sans starts to notice some things that are ~~probably~~ important.

“SANS I CAN’T BELIEVE IT’S FINALLY HAPPENING! OH! MAKE SURE TO GET GOOD PICTURES OKAY?”

Papyrus looked for all the world like he’d just won the lottery. Sans chuckled and pulled out his cell phone. He hardly used it, but it had still managed to get pretty beaten up over the past few months. He held the power button until the screen lit up.

“UGH, SANS! WHAT GOOD IS A CELL PHONE IF YOU NEVER EVEN TURN IT ON?”

“well, what good is a cell if no one ever calls me?” he retorted, snapping a picture of Papyrus’ scowl.

“SANS, THAT’S BECAUSE IT’S OFF ALL THE TIME.”

Sans shrugged and returned the phone to his pocket. They made a few more turns through the drippy tunnels of Waterfall before Papyrus gasped and sprinted ahead.

Undyne’s house. Looked like she was having a birthday party, too, or something. Undyne herself was waiting in her doorway, the biggest toothy grin she could manage on her face.

“UNDYNE! I’M HERE! I HOPE YOU DON’T MIND THAT I BROUGHT MY BROTHER ALONG. HE NEEDS TO GET OUT MORE - FEEL THAT FRESH MOUNTAIN AIR,” Papyrus cried as he ran up to meet her. Then he added a half-decibel less loud, “BETWEEN YOU AND ME, HE’S BECOME VERY LAZY. HARDLY GETS OUT OF BED EXCEPT TO GO TO WORK THESE DAYS!”

Undyne laughed and pulled Papyrus in for a side hug.

“Don’t worry, Paps. He’s always welcome here! And anyway, it’s your big day! I’ve already told you you could invite anyone you wanted. Are you ready to get pr-pr-pr-promoteeeeeed!?”

“OH YES INDEED! I MADE SURE TO CLEAR THE WHOLE DAY FOR THIS!”

“Fuhuhuhuhu, now _that’s_ the kind of spirit we need!” she said, giving Papyrus a solid punch in the humerus.

Sans lumbered up to join them, hands in his pockets.

“hey undyne. it’s been awhile, hunh?” Sans waved as he came to a stop beside Papyrus. “just thought i’d tag along to make sure nothing _fishy_ went down here!”

Undyne groaned, but the smile didn’t leave her face. She crossed her beefy, battle-scarred arms and looked down at him with her one good eye, an eyebrow raised.

“Well, hey to you, too, man! It has been a long time, hasn’t it? How’s the...lab? You’re a scientist, right?”

“yep,” Sans replied. “wouldn’t trade it for the world.”

“Cool! I’m glad it’s all worked out for ya! Especially since...well, you don’t really look like Royal Guard material these days…”

“eh, y’know, i don’t think i was ever really cut out for your kinda work. it coulda been fun, sure, but i needed something with a little more brain and less brawn in it,” he winked.

“Fuhu, well, then I hope your brain’s as buff as my brawn, ‘cause your brawn certainly isn’t!” Undyne winked back. “C’mon, let’s go inside! The others are waiting for us.

Sans followed the other two into Undyne’s house. Inside, situated around a large table were members of the Guard, all ranging from full-fledged guardsmen to sentries to trainees. Sans recognized a few from the Lab in Hotland, as well as a few new faces. Must be recent recruits. It was surprising how many dogs the Guard was taking on these days. They all turned and welcomed Papyrus excitedly, with emphatic waves and wagging tails. At least half of the Guard locked its gaze on Papyrus’ boney arms. Sans suddenly felt very glad he wasn’t wearing a short sleeve shirt, too.

“He’s here, guys! Get ready to party!”

Undyne’s shout was greeted with a chorus of whoops and barks.

“Oh, but first we have to take care of one small detail…”

Undyne turned to Papyrus, a wicked gleam in her eye.

“We have to initiate our newest sentry!”

Sans watched as Papyrus’ face became a mixture of excitement and apprehension. He pulled out his phone and got ready to take a picture.

“INITIATE? INITIATE HOW, EXACTLY?”

Undyne closed her eye, took a deep breath, then wound her arm back. Papyrus looked a little more apprehensive than excited now, but he didn’t flinch.

A blue fist came flying toward his face and Papyrus screwed his eye sockets shut. Sans had a feeling there was nothing to fear, but he felt his soul flutter a moment nonetheless. Undyne’s manifestations of friendship tended to do be on the aggressive side, and while she’d never intentionally hurt his brother, accidents could happen. Sans felt a burst of weird magic flood through him. Bigger than he’d ever felt before. He felt something begin to form, and started to panic. What the heck!? He forced it down with some effort and the feeling was gone before he could fully process what had just happened.

The hand stopped an inch from the skeleton’s face. Sans snapped a picture, holding back laughter and letting the relief flood through him. He suddenly felt very drained.

“Fuhuhuhu, just kidding, punk! You don’t have to do anything. You’re already in! Now it’s time to party!” She laughed, clapping Papyrus on the back a little too roughly. Papyrus opened his eyes looking thoroughly relieved, too.

“WOWIE! FOR A MOMENT THERE, I WAS POSITIVE YOU WERE GOING TO HIT ME- EUH, BUT I KNEW YOU WERE KIDDING UNDYNE! I KNEW IT THE WHOLE TIME!”

One of the dogs went to the fridge and pulled out a large ice cream cake.

“We got you something. I know you’re not that into the sweet stuff, but you _gotta_ try this! I got the recipe from somebody in the Capital and it’s my favorite! I kinda wish it wasn’t so cold. But, hey, you won’t mind! You live in Snowdin! That’s about as cold as it gets! What piece do you want?”

Sans sat down at the piano across the room and rested his chin his arms, relieved to not have to stand through this whole thing, and watched the proceedings with a weary attempt at contentment. Papyrus had insisted on walking all the way to Undyne’s place. And since it was his special day...well, if Sans had had muscles they’d be sore now. As it was, he was feeling pretty achey.

Nowadays, there was always _something_. Either he was tired, or he was exhausted. Either he had a headache or his spine hurt. Either he was late to work and reprimanded by his superiors or he was stressing out about his assignments because he couldn’t focus. And with Alphys so busy all the time with her research and administrative responsibilities, he wound up working alone more often than not. He rubbed an eye socket, trying to get rid of a tired itch that had been there for at least a week now, and thought back to earlier that morning, when he’d looked in the mirror and seen the first hints of permanent “bags” under his eye sockets. Even if he ever got his energy back, the new grooves would never go away. Like scars. Just another part of growing up and getting tired, he supposed.

“Sans, you want some of this?” Undyne brought him out of his stupor.

Sans looked up at the table, to where Papyrus was sitting. He had his back to him, and was “NYEH HEH HEH-ing” away with one of the senior dogs. Good, ‘cause otherwise he’d probably insist that Sans join in the festivities.

“mmnah,” Sans finally said through his jacket sleeves. “but thanks for the offer. it’s very _ice_ of you!”

Undyne stuck her tongue out at him before shrugging and returning her attention to the rest of the group.Sans closed his eyes, still hunched over the piano, and heaved a deep sigh.

This really sucked.

At first it hadn’t been so bad, but that was before he’d begun to realize he wasn’t going to get better. This was permanent. He could see that now. It had been...what...six months or something since the accident? The machine wasn’t really any better either. Days when he actually felt like he could work on it were few and far between. And more often than not, when the thing would cross his mind he’d just feel bitter.

It just wasn’t fair…

Sans tuned out the dull roar coming from the table and reached for the marble in his pocket. It was becoming a habit: to take it out and mess with it when he was feeling particularly disengaged. He studied the swirling face in the glass with drooping eye sockets.

It had been awhile since he and Gaster had made contact. He’d gotten a few flickers here and there, sometimes strong, other times weak. But that had pretty much been the extent of it. He hadn’t even had any more Gaster Dreams since that last one in the Lab.

Sans had to admit it: as weird and...kind of annoying...as Gaster could be, he was disappointed that he’d been so quiet for so long. Gaster may not make much sense most of the time, but at least he tried to, and Sans felt especially bad for being the only person the scientist could even occasionally communicate with. And he was still curious as to why.

Sans still hadn’t been able to unearth the mysterious lower levels of the Royal Lab, but he _had_ slowly, painfully made his way through about a fourth of the file in his own. So far, he had made it about up to the point where his latest Gaster Dream had left him. Experiments on Determination to see how viable a source of power it would be to improve the CORE’s output of energy. There were plenty of mentions of Sans himself in these files now. Heh. Clearly he must have taken the doctor’s offer. As far as he could tell from the doctor’s reports, they had gotten along swimmingly, and were making some major breakthroughs.

Dr. Gaster had also begun to record some of his other thoughts on Determination now that the CORE was mostly finished and operational. Perhaps the power of SAVE and RESET could come in handy. It could literally change the course of history if harnessed correctly. But, like in the dream, he had hit a wall in his research. The Determination was no longer doing what it was supposed to. Sans was just as puzzled now as he supposed he must have been then. But it wasn’t like there were any more humans to study now since the Royal Family’s kid had died several years ago, and Sans wasn’t even sure if he would have ever been interested in studying them if they had without stumbling on the file.

It was all pretty confusing. And Sans’ constant exhaustion didn’t make it any easier to figure out. He sighed again, wishing he could simply talk to Gaster.

The party continued, with games and contests. Sans participated in one round of “Pin the Tail on the Woshua.” Just enough to reassure his brother that he was having fun. Whether he actually was or not, he decided to keep to himself.

Finally, people began to leave. Pretty soon, Undyne was trying to find a way to fit Greatest Dog through the door frame with minimal damage, and Papyrus was offering encouraging words and advice on the issue. Only Sans was left in the front room. He was beginning to get impatient. All he wanted to do was go home and sleep. Or if sleep didn’t come, go over more of the file. This was taking forever. He was starting to feel a little like a toddler, ready for a nap but too tired to sleep.

“WELL, BROTHER, DID YOU HAVE FUN?” Papyrus said coming over after the big canine finally popped free. The last thing Sans wanted was to snap at his brother...

“paps, i was _bone_ to party.” Sans said a little too flatly, still half-buried in his jacket sleeves at the piano, conveniently hiding his frown.

Papyrus grimaced, but said nothing. Instead he was staring intently as Sans’ face.

“sup, bro? i got a pimple or something?” he asked, trying his best to mask his short temper. “i s’pose that would definitely stand out against my _pale_ complexion-”

“-SANS, WHAT IS THAT?” Papyrus cut him off. Ugh, rude. And right in the middle of a joke, too.

“what is what?”

At this point, Undyne had said her final goodbyes and had come over to join Papyrus and Sans. She took one look at Sans and her eye widened.

“Whoa! What the heck is up with your eye, man?” she said.

“what, i don’t get it. what are you guys looking at?”

Undyne went and got a mirror. Sans took it and inspected himself. His tired grooves had deepened from this morning. Which was alarming. But he was pretty sure that wasn’t what they were talking about.

There was a hint of light blue glowing softly from behind his left eyelight. It seemed to shift and pulse with each breath he took, and as his breaths started to get a little shorter, the glow seemed to brighten. A feeling of terror gripped him. This wasn’t normal. The light got brighter, until suddenly it overtook his eyelight and began to solidify in shape.

“uh, guys? you have any idea what this might be?” he asked, voice involuntarily pitching a little too high.

“I WAS HOPING YOU WOULD KNOW; IT’S _YOU’RE_ EYE AFTER ALL.”

“Wait, so you don’t know what it is either!?”

“n-no! how do i make it stop!?”

“Try breathing!”

“NO, IT SEEMS TO BE GETTING STRONGER THE MORE YOU BREATHE! MAYBE IF YOU HOLD YOUR BREATH IT’LL GO AWAY!”

“Or- or maybe you need to jog a few laps!”

“YES! WE COULD RUN HOME! OR PERHAPS IT WOULD BETTER IF YOU DIDN’T EXERT YOURSELF…”

“What does it feel like?”

“JUST DON’T PANIC, BROTHER! I’M SURE WHATEVER IT IS IT’S-”

“guys, i can’t focus with you two screaming at me! just shut up for a moment!” Sans shouted, throwing his arms up. There was a bright pinging sound and a pair of yelps, and suddenly Papyrus and Undyne were flying - or perhaps more accurately _falling_ \- up to the ceiling.

They landed with a loud boom, and Sans looked up to see them sprawled out as if they were on the floor, souls glowing a dark blue through their clothes. Undyne was massaging her elbow, looking furious, and Papyrus looked a little dazed, rubbing the back of his skull.

“OWIE...SANS HOW DID YOU DO THAT? CAN I...COME DOWN NOW?” Papyrus finally said. Undyne was gritting her teeth, fixing Sans with a deathglare. Sans just stared up at them for a moment, eye sockets wide.

“i dunno… but, uh, sure. i mean...i can _try_ …”

Sans forced his pounding soul to calm down. Panicking only seemed to make it worse. As he focused on his breathing, he could feel the surge of magic gradually recede, and he started to feel normal again.

Undyne fell first. Papyrus landed on top of her.

“Sans, what the hell was that for!?” she shouted, scrambling out from under Papyrus to come towering over him. Papyrus sprung to his feet, too, immediately grabbing Undyne by the shoulders, should she try to lash out.

“UNDYNE CALM DOWN! YOU DON’T WANT TO HIT SANS! REMEMBER WHAT I TOLD YOU ABOUT HIS CONDITION?”

“Oh, I wanna hit him alright. But if it makes you happy, Papyrus, I won’t. Sans, you better have a good explanation for this!”

The two fell silent, looking at him expectantly. Undyne was still fuming and Papyrus hadn’t taken his hands off of her shoulders.

Sans wracked his brain for an explanation. As far as he could remember he’d never done anything like that before...it was like...like he’d shifted their gravities or something. And now that the flood of magic was gone, he was left feeling even more weary than before. Finally, he gave up and only shrugged.

Undyne formed a bright, blue-green spear with frightening speed and drove it into the tile floor. Her knuckles were pale as she clenched the shaft with an iron grip.

“You have no idea, do you?” she gritted through her teeth. “Well, whatever that was, you’d better get it under control before you come back here. I don’t take kindly to being flung on my ceiling, punk.”

“YES, AH- DON’T WORRY, UNDYNE, I’LL TAKE HIM HOME, NOW. I’M SURE IT WAS JUST AN ACCIDENT. WE’LL FIGURE IT OUT! I PROMISE! THANK YOU FOR THE PARTY! IT WAS A LOT OF FUN GETTING TO KNOW MY FELLOW GUARDSMEN! FAREWELL!” Papyrus cut in nervously, pulling Undyne a few paces away and then coming to guide Sans out the door. Sans was still in so much shock that he barely got a “sorry” out just as Undyne came up behind them and slammed the door shut.

They walked along in tense silence for awhile. Finally, Papyrus spoke up.

“SANS, ARE YOU ALRIGHT?”

Sans didn’t answer at first. What could he say? He felt pretty badly shaken and even more exhausted than earlier, but he hadn’t been the one to hit the ceiling. Or the floor.

So all he did was shrug.

Papyrus opened his mouth to say something. Then he shut it. They walked on. It wasn’t until they’d nearly reached Snowdin that he piped up again.

“IS THIS ANOTHER ‘SHORT CUT’ THINGY, DO YOU THINK? I MEAN, I’VE KNOWN YOU FOR A VERY LONG TIME, AND I’VE NEVER SEEN YOU DO THAT BEFORE.”

“i dunno, bro...maybe. i can’t remember being able to do anything like that either, and i’ve known me longer than you have!”

“OKAY, THAT WAS A WEAK JOKE.”

“heh. sorry. i’m really tired, now. can’t come up with anything more intelligent.”

“THAT’S OKAY, SANS. BUT IF YOU’RE SO TIRED, YOU SHOULD SLEEP!”

“i try. but even after a full eight hours i feel the same.”

“REALLY!? WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME SOONER! WE SHOULD GO SEE DR. ARAS AGAIN AND-”

“-already did not two weeks ago. he couldn’t think of anything to help.”

“OH,” came the reply. They walked in silence for a moment, the house coming into view through the fog. “WELL...AT LEAST THIS EXPLAINS WHY YOU SPEND SO MUCH OF YOUR TIME IN BED THESE DAYS.”

Sans trained his gaze on the ground, shoving his hands deeper into his pockets.

“yeah…”

“ANYWAY, IT’S GETTING LATE. IF YOU’D...LIKE TO SKIP THE BEDTIME STORY TONIGHT, I UNDERSTAND,” Papyrus said, holding the front door open for Sans.

“nah, i’ll read you one. it’s the least i can do to make it up to you for accidentally throwing you on the ceiling.”

Papyrus smiled at him and bolted up the stairs.

“I’LL BE WAITING, THEN! COME UP WHENEVER YOU’RE READY!”

He heard a last “NYEH HEH HEH” before the bedroom door was shut, and Sans chuckled half-heartedly. He shut the front door behind him and leaned against it for a moment. Before he could stop himself, Sans had slid all the way to the floor. He put his head in his hands, and sat there, letting himself feel everything for just a moment.

It had been a long day.

~

Sans reached into a briefcase and removed an empty syringe.

“This will only pinch a bit at first,” he said in a voice that was not his own.

“I know. We have done this before, Doctor,” a child in front of him responded, looking bored.

They were in what looked like a dining room. No one else was present. The walls were a soft yellow, and there was a large table behind the chair the child was sitting in, a vase of golden flowers as its centerpiece. The child was thin and pale, with large eyes and a faint ruddiness about the cheeks. Sans guessed this must be the King’s kid. After all, what other human could be living in the Underground?

He uncapped the syringe and found a vein in their arm with practiced precision. Not that Sans himself had ever had to draw anything, but clearly Doctor Gaster had been pretty good at it.

“The Determination levels in the last sample have remained the same, but I can’t seem to get it to do anything anymore. Do you have any idea why that may be?”

“How should I know? It’s not like I have a meter for this stuff.” The kid looked irritated as they spoke. They lifted their free arm to rest their chin in their hand. Sans-Gaster finished drawing the red liquid, and brushed a cotton swab over the puncture.

“Doctor Gaster?”

“What is it?”

At first the human didn’t say anything. They were studying the far wall with a tired expression. He patiently waited, placing a clean bandage on the wound and gently rolling the child’s sleeve back down.

“Do you really think I’m making any difference, giving you my Determination?” they asked finally.

How to respond to such a question? He thought for a moment, picking his words carefully.

“I believe that with your Determination, we can save all of Monster Kind. For one thing, if I can get the Determination to reach its full potential again, we can super-power the CORE and bring light and warmth to the whole of the Underground. And maybe...somewhere down the road...we can free everyone. You have a powerful soul, my friend. One that far surpasses the powers of most of the humans I ever came across on the Surface.”

At first the kid silently continued to study the wall. Finally, they turned their large eyes on him. Sans-Gaster could see a great deal of weariness and pain behind them. It was surprising in such a young face. Usually he’d only ever seen such sentiments in monsters that were on the verge of falling down.

“I’m so tired, Doctor Gaster.” They looked like they were about to start crying.

He didn’t know what to do. Dealing with children had never been his forte, so he waited for the child to continue.

“Dad keeps telling me I’m the future of Monsters and Humans, but...what can I do down here that I didn’t already try up there!? I just mess up! I mess everything up! The only reason I ended up down here was because- ...because I couldn’t do anything right up there...but I’m no different now! I thought maybe I could finally be ha- could finally make a difference...but it’s all the same down here. I feel no different. If anything, I feel _worse_!”

There were tears running down their face now. At a loss, Sans-Gaster tentatively placed a hand on their arm. When he wasn’t shaken off, he started to rub the arm with as much gentleness as he could muster.

“I’m sorry. I-I wish I knew what to say. I won’t pretend to understand wh-”

“-Don’t worry about it, Doctor. No one understands down here,” came the flat reply.

Sans-Gaster watched passively as the kid wiped their tears on their sleeve. This was foreign territory for him. Best to not get too involved in matters he was no master of. He packed his things back in the briefcase and helped the human out of the chair.

“Well, thank you for at least allowing me to study you. I’m hoping this sample proves useful to our research. Would you like to join the rest outside with me now?”

“...Sure.”

The two walked together to the front door, Sans-Gaster holding it open for the kid. Just outside, gathered in a circle were the king, the queen, and several of the heads of departments from the Labs. The head of the Horticultural Department was in a heated discussion with the king, and the queen was smiling and nodding politely at the other conversations going on around her. Sans wasn’t sure he’d ever seen the queen before. Sure, he’d maybe seen a picture or two of her, but never in person. Or as “in person” as this situation happened to be. She seemed very kind and unassuming, though her eyes betrayed her intelligence. She was clearly not just nodding to look like she was listening. She seemed to be wholly engaged in the conversation. Sans liked that.

“Having fun without us, Asgore?” he heard himself say. He watched out of the corner of his eye as the human child slunk away to join Asriel, the king and queen’s biological son, a ways off. Asriel looked happy, but the child remained sullen, scuffing the dirt with their shoes.

“You know it, Gaster. I am afraid Don and I have been arguing about the potency of Buttercups. My children made me a pie that was absolutely delightful a little while ago, but- instead of butter, they accidentally put in buttercups!”

The child had stopped scuffing their feet in the dirt, and - though they were still looking at the ground - now had an ear tilted in Asgore’s direction.

“Ha ha ha! It is kind of funny now. But for a few days I did get very sick. Toriel was very worried. Don was just telling me that a dosage that high would have probably _killed_ a weaker monster. But I am sure the children meant no harm. Accidents happen. And it all turned out fine in the end! Don wants to study them more closely now, though.”

As Sans-Gaster listened, he discreetly watched the children milling about by the house. Asriel seemed perfectly oblivious to the goings on of the adults, but the human child seemed to have been listening intently. They stood perfectly still, eyes trained on the ground, fists clenched at their sides. There seemed to be a squarer set to their shoulders. What could be going on in that kid’s head? Asriel tugged on their sleeve and pulled them out of their reveries to whisper in their ear, casting a shifty glance at the adults. The human nodded and the two disappeared inside.

“Well, your majesty-”

“-Asgore, my friend. I have told you time and time again to call me Asgore. We are equals, are we not?”

“Right...Asgore...I’m afraid I must be heading back to the Labs. I’ve my projects to get back to, and that assistant of mine has to be fed and entertained every two hours or he goes raving mad!”

“Ha ha ha! Ah, yes...Sans was his name, was it not? You should bring him with you next time you come to visit! I would like to meet the boy. From what you tell me, he sounds very charming!” Asgore bellowed, clapping him on the back with the force of a sledgehammer.

“Well, I don’t know if I would use the word _charming_ to describe him. But he does have a pleasant way about him. He’s an irresistible personality, I’ll give him that. And he has proven to be a very diligent worker. I’ll ask him if he’d like to tag along next time we visit. I’m sure he’d like to meet you as well.”

Asgore clasped his shoulder and gave him a shake. Then another. Then another, this time harder. Sans felt very confused.

~

“SANS? SANS? CAN YOU HEAR ME? THE FRONT DOOR IS NOT A BED! YOU COULD HAVE AT LEAST COLLAPSED ON THE COUCH.”

“hn-wha…” he muttered, trying to pry the hand attached to his shoulder off so he could go back to sleep.

He was vaguely aware of his attacker making an exasperated noise, then he felt arms wrap around him and lift him into the air. Sans was already on his way out again.

“THE THINGS I DO FOR YOU. I THOUGHT THE OLDER BROTHER WAS SUPPOSED TO BE THE RESPONSIBLE ONE. I’VE BEEN WAITING FOR _THREE HOURS_ FOR YOU TO COME UP AND TUCK ME IN AND I COME OUT TO FIND YOU LITERALLY HAVEN’T MOVED FROM WHERE I LAST SAW YOU- NYEH, WELL...AT LEAST YOU’VE MOVED TO THE FLOOR. BUT YOU’RE OUT COLD! I HAVE TO DO EVERYTHING AROUND HERE THESE DAYS, DON’T I?”

Sans paid little attention to the muttering coming from just above him. It wasn’t important. He felt himself stop and the arms hold him out for a moment. Nothing happened.

“NYEH! YOU HAVE _NO_ IDEA HOW BADLY I’D LIKE TO DROP YOU RIGHT NOW, SANS. YOU’RE LUCKY I LOVE YOU!”

The arms pulled him back in for...probably the equivalent of an awkwardly-executed hug...then Sans felt his body gently connect with a soft, supple surface. He sighed, reaching instinctively to hug his pillow as he felt the arms gingerly slide out from underneath him. Good. Now he could get back to the things that mattered. He heard receding footsteps. Then a sigh.

“SLEEP WELL, BROTHER. I KNOW YOU NEED IT.”

~

Sans was walking down a hall, studying the tile floor as he went. His soul weighed heavy in his chest. He entered a room and looked up to see himself leaning against a work table, a vial of that oh-so-familiar red liquid in his hand.

“Good morning Sans,” he heard himself say in that voice that wasn’t his own.

“mornin’, g- oh. what’s up? you look a little…dis _heart_ ened today!” Other Sans replied, shaking the little vial in his fingers. His face fell when Sans-Gaster didn’t respond right away.

“seriously, man, what’s wrong? someone fall down or somethin’?”

Sans-Gaster took a chair and buried his head in his hands.

“In a manner of speaking, yes, Sans,” he croaked, meeting his assistant’s gaze.

Other Sans’ eye sockets widened. But he said nothing.

“It all happened so fast. I was just stopping in to grab something I’d forgotten the other day, but.. they...Asgore is…”

“asgore is _what_?” Other Sans asked when he didn’t continue. There was a hint of panic in his voice.

“Asgore is completely devastated. So is Toriel.”

“oh.” there was a noticeable release of tension in that simple reply.

“It only ended about an hour ago apparently. You know how the human child has been very ill these past few days?” A nod in response. “Well, they...didn’t make it.”

Other Sans gasped.

“There’s more, too. Apparently, their dying wish was to see the flowers of their hometown. Asriel absorbed their soul and crossed the Barrier. He left before anyone could stop him. He was only gone for a few hours, but I guess he returned badly wounded...he...he’s gone, too.”

There was a prolonged silence between the two of them.

“two kids in one day…”

“Yes...and the human’s soul completely disappeared, too. There is nothing left to help us with our research. Nothing but an empty body. When I left, the king and queen were still weeping over it. There was...so much dust. Everywhere...it seemed to cover the whole garden.”

“d’you know what the kid died from?”

Sans-Gaster felt a wave of dread and guilt flood him.

“Buttercups.”

Could it have been an accident? A simple mistake? Perhaps, but he knew this child. They had been smart. Thoughtful. Observant. Unhappy…

“so...what’re we gonna do now that we have no humans to study? all we’ve got is this and the first sample, doc. that’s not much to go on. especially since this one seems to be a dud, too.” Other Sans finally broke the silence. “i dunno what’s up with it. nothing’s wrong with the determination itself, it just...doesn’t work anymore- ...it’s like it _gave up_ or something.”

With the last word, it clicked into place in Sans-Gaster’s head. No. It hadn’t been an accident. The correlation was far too strong to ignore. The Determination had, indeed “given up...” He suddenly felt more weary than he had in a very long time. He put his head into his hands again, wishing for nothing but a long nap right now.

“For now,” he muttered through his hands. “we have to wait, I suppose. There’s not much more we can do without a source for our research.” His voice broke involuntarily and he stopped until he could regain his composure.

“we wait?” Other Sans prodded when he didn’t continue.

“Yes,” he managed at last.

Who knew how long it would be? They could be waiting months...years... _centuries_ even! All of Monster Kind could _die out_ before they could continue with their research. They’d come so _close_ , too! But there really was no other option. “We wait, Sans…” he finally repeated.

“We wait for another human.”

 

****7 HP** **


End file.
